These Days
by Akasha617
Summary: Stephanie in a crisis, and it looks like its all up to her to save the day. Who can she turn to when the ones closest to her are in danger? A Babecake story.
1. Chapter 1

This is a standalone story, not a sequel, but I hope you'll like it just the same. The sequel is on the back burner for now while I get this one off my mind, but it may still happen.

Once again, I randomly picked a Bon Jovi song title that does not reflect what the story's about. I just love their songs. It's a Babecake story so far, but I don't know if it'll stay that way, I have to see where it takes me. Anything's possible.

A special thank you to my wonderful friends Stayce and Jeannie for their support, friendship, help and suggestions. I couldn't have done it without you guys!

I would love to hear from you to let me know what you think, all comments and suggestions are welcome. And, OK, they also make my inner review whore very happy…

Disclaimer: I keep checking, but all characters still belong to JE

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These Days

Chapter 1

The way I see it, you always have at least two choices in life. Sometimes you get more than two, but it's always at least two. Usually do or don't. At least that's how it is for me. Every day, I get to choose. Lately I realized I always go for the 'do'. That leaves me covered in garbage when I choose to run after a skip, full to the point of bursting when I do have that second piece of pineapple upside-down cake, and smack in the middle of two men I never say 'don't' to. Yup, 'Do' could easily be the one word that sums up my life.

It was 3 AM and my phone was ringing. And right there, I knew it was bad news. No one ever calls with good news at 3 AM. For one, Publisher's Clearing House would wait until it was business hours to tell me I was a millionaire. I wouldn't know from personal experience, but it was always daylight out when people got their big checks, right?

I woke up with the first ring, but I was still debating whether to answer it or not at the third.

Oh, fuck it, my curiosity was too strong. "Hello?"

"Stephanie, this is your mother," my mother greeted me as if I wouldn't recognize her voice after over thirty years. My stomach dropped. This was definitely the worst kind of news, my mother never called past 9 PM or before 8 AM.

"Is Grandma okay?" I asked. Grandma was over 70, I knew from my neighbors that anything could happen at any time at that age.

"Your grandmother is fine, she's standing right next to me," Mom said and paused. Standing right next to her? Wasn't anybody in my family sleeping tonight? "Can you come over right away please?"

Please. She'd said please. My mom never says 'please' when she wants me to do something. Sometimes she asked if I could do her a favor, but 'please' was for special occasions. This was serious, and from one second to the next, I was wide awake.

"What is it?" I asked, already out of bed.

"It's your father," my mother said.

Black dots started dancing across my vision and I had to sit back down on the bed. I put my head between my knees until my vision cleared, while my mind was already trying to paint pictures of worst case scenarios.

"Is he okay?" I finally brought out.

"We don't know," my seemed to press out. "We can't find him."

Mom sounded like she was ringing her hands. At this rate, it could take hours to get everything she knew out of her, and I had no patience to wait for it on the phone, I needed to know everything right away. "I'll be right there," I said and hung up, the t-shirt I'd slept in already halfway off as I rushed into the bathroom.

I was dressed and ready in less than 15 minutes, grabbed my shoulder bag and my jacket and rushed out the door. Since it was the middle of the night, there was no traffic and I made it to my parents' house in record time.

The porch light was on, but other than that, the neighborhood was dark. I realized I couldn't remember the last time I was at my parents' house at 3:30 in the morning after I'd gone away to college. It was a sort of unreal feeling and just added to the overall weariness I'd been feeling since the phone woke me up.

I let myself in and went to the kitchen, knowing that's where I'd find my mom. Sure enough, Grandma Mazur and Mom were sitting at the kitchen table and my mother got up as soon as she saw me. The fact that they were both in their robes added to the unreal feeling. Of course I knew that's what they wore at night, but I hadn't seen it for so long.

Over the years since she'd moved in with my parents, Grandma Mazur had worn so many skimpy or shocking outfits that any of them would have been less disturbing now than her simple white robe that opened to reveal a granny nightgown underneath. Of course there's a possibility I was just trying to distract myself because I was so confused at even being there in the first place.

"Thank God you're here," Mom said, her hands clasped in front of her.

'Yeah," Grandma Mazur said. "You wouldn't want to miss this. It's a pip! Can't wait to tell the girls at the beauty parlor about this!"

"Mother!" my mom said. "This is _serious_." She sat back down again and picked up her coffee cup. Without taking a sip, she put it back down and got up again. She was in a state.

"So tell me what's going on," I said, grabbing my own mug and filling it up. "Where's Dad? And why are you up in the middle of the night?"

"It's just like Fred," Grandma Mazur said, and I could tell how excited she was about the idea. Not that she would wish my dad to be murdered and end up in a ditch somewhere; I didn't think she was considering that part of the story. She was thinking of how she was going to be the center of attention because she'd be the one with the most information once the story hit the Burg grapevine.

"Bite your tongue," my mother said and she stopped wiping the counter that hadn't needed cleaning in the first place. "I'm sure it's nothing like that. I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for it all."

"For what?" I tried again. "What is going on?"

I wasn't sure what I'd expected; I'd been too frazzled on my way over to start worrying what had happened. But now it looked to me like my mom had called me for help, and I really needed to find out what had happened.

I took my mom's elbow and led her back to the kitchen table. "Let's all sit down and then you can tell me exactly what happened," I suggested.

My mom took a deep breath. "I woke up and your father wasn't there," she said.

"What woke you up?" I asked.

My mom gave me a look that said it should be obvious. "Your father wasn't there."

To be honest, I'd never thought much about my parents' life. They were of a generation that didn't get divorced, if there were problems in the marriage; they were worked out or glossed over. But I'd never noticed any problems. My whole family wasn't very touchy-feely, and my parents were no exception. So I'd never thought about them as a couple, just as my parents.

And now my mom was telling me that my dad's empty side of the bed had woken her up. It took me a moment to digest that information.

Morelli often got calls in the middle of the night, sometimes I woke up when the phone rang or his pager buzzed, but mostly I didn't. I just woke up alone the next morning or when he crawled back into bed next to me. So I wondered if that said anything about our relationship or if it just meant that my mom was a control freak.

It was obvious to me that Grandma Mazur wouldn't be much help; if anything, I had to keep her from disturbing my mom even more, I had to be the level head. The irony would have had me laughing if I hadn't been so confused. So I went into detecting mode, the way I'd seen on TV at least.

"When was the last time you saw him?" I asked.

Mom slid her eyes to the pantry where I knew she kept her booze. I would have gotten the bottle for her this time, hell, I would have joined her, except I needed us both sober.

"He went out to the Lodge last night," she said.

"To play cards," Grandma added.

I nodded. Since Dad had retired from the post office, he drove a cab part time, and he didn't hide the fact that most of his tours ended up at the Lodge. On Friday nights, he usually met his friends there for cards or whatever it is guys his age do with their friends.

"Then what?" I wanted to know.

Mom slumped in her chair. I looked at Grandma Mazur and she shrugged. "He wasn't home by the time I went to bed."

I had no idea when my dad usually got home, since I'd moved out, I hadn't paid much attention to my parents' schedule apart from meal times. I knew they always got up early, so I guessed they didn't go to bed late.

"I thought he was just running later than usual," Mom said. "So I went to bed."

I finished my coffee and got up. Maybe Mom was right, maybe Dad was just pulling an all-nighter.

"I'll drive over to the Lodge," I said. "Maybe they're just having a poker marathon."

To my knowledge, there had never been an all-night card game at the lodge before, but hey, it could happen, right?

I rinsed my cup in the sink and put it in the dishwasher my dad had given my mom for Christmas last year. "Or maybe they were drinking and decided to stay there instead of driving home drunk," I suggested. "Why don't you guys go back to bed and I'll check it out."

I knew I was grasping at straws, since my father didn't drink much and would have called if he was staying somewhere else, but at the same time, it was a possibility.

My mom seemed to think so, too, she smiled weakly. "Yes," she said. "Go check it out."

I doubted either one of them would go back to bed, so I promised I'd check in with them soon and left the kitchen.

Grandma Mazur followed me out. "So what do you think, Steph? You think Frank just split? Come on, you can tell me."

"I don't know." Boy, was that ever the truth. I was totally confused. My parents were my parents, they were supposed to be, well, boring, but my anchor when my life got too hectic, they were supposed to be predictable.

"You remember when Fred disappeared?" Grandma asked. "The same way, he just didn't come home one day."

"Dad will come home though," I said, more to myself than to Grandma Mazur. I needed to believe that.

"Sure, sure," Grandma said. "But it's still a pip. I bet by nine, the phone won't start ringing."

I couldn't tell if Grandma was excited about that prospect or dreaded it, I chose to believe the latter.

"How would anyone know, if you don't tell them? I asked.

"They'll know when they don't see his car in the driveway first thing in the morning," Grandma said, and I knew she was right. The Burg would know.

"Not if he comes home before they wake up," I said and hoisted my purse up on my shoulder as I opened the front door. "I'll call."

I got back into my car and sat for a minute, trying to gather my thoughts. I looked at my parents' house and then at the empty driveway. The phone had woken me up in the middle of the night before, but I'd never gotten more disturbing news. While I was hoping I'd find my dad sleeping it off at a friend's house, I had a funny feeling in my stomach that I wouldn't. And a small voice in my head spoke up and told me I might never see my dad ever again.

But it couldn't be right. Last time I saw Dad, two nights ago at dinner, I'd hardly spoken a word to him. I'd been busy defending my lifestyle to my mom and telling Grandma Mazur why she couldn't ride shotgun with me when I went after my next FTA, I hadn't really noticed Dad. Come to think of it, I couldn't remember the last time I'd really talked to him. So really, I had to find him. Alive.

I started the car and checked my watch. It wasn't quite five yet. Since I really needed a doughnut, I pointed the car in the direction of the nearest 24-hour Dunkin' Doughnuts. With caffeine and sugar in me, I was more likely to appear calm when I felt anything but. There was a chance the squishy feeling in my stomach was just hunger.

I went into Dunkin' Donuts and got a large coffee and half a dozen doughnuts, but when I sat down at one of the tables, my appetite was gone. My stomach was in knots and I couldn't bring myself to take a single bite, a first for me. I was used to worrying, even worrying for loved ones' lives, but not used to worrying about my parents. They were my worry-free zone.

I sighed and packed up my breakfast, off to do what I'd promised to do.

The Elk's Lodge sat on the corner of Ashmore Avenue and Chambers, on the edge of the Burg. It was a grey, two-story concrete block, built in the 70's, and didn't look like much from the outside. A lot of Burg weddings, christenings and funerals ended up here after church, there wasn't anyone who grew up in the Burg that had never been inside. I couldn't count the times I've come here, usually on a happy occasion, as far back as I can remember.

Today though, I sat in the parking lot for a minute, hesitating. There were a couple cars in the lot, a beat up Chevy Malibu and a Ford Econovan, but not my dad's Buick. Not very encouraging. This was my only stop, if Dad wasn't here, I had no other options. And it was still too early to call anyone for more ideas, I was on my own.

It was kind of funny, and not funny ha-ha, I realized, how much I'd come to depend on my friends for help in the past few years. When I'd started out as a bounty hunter, I did everything by myself. Now, I had Joe, Ranger and Lula, along with a lot of Ranger's men to help me out. Maybe the fact that I was alone contributed to my panicky feeling. I took a deep breath and told myself I could do this, with or without help.

Slamming the car door shut, I straightened my shoulders and walked up to the Lodge's back door. It had a front door, too, but I'd never used it, everyone always came and went through the back door. But the doorknob wouldn't turn, the door was locked. No matter how hard I rattled, the door didn't budge. I even rang the doorbell for good measure, not expecting an answer, and gave up after the third time. There was no one inside.

"Now what?" I asked out loud, racking my brain to come up with the names of my dad's friends. There was still the theory he'd gone home with one of them, I reminded myself.

The sun was just rising, bathing the parking lot in somewhat of an eerie light that strangely matched my mood. I got back to my car and almost jumped when my cell phone started ringing from inside my shoulder bag.

I fished it out and hit the talk button without reading the display. "You're up early," Ranger said before I had a chance to say anything.

I didn't have to ask how he knew, there was a GPS tracker somewhere on or in my car that sent its little signal back to RangeMan. But it was a little early for him to know my location. "So are you," I said.

"Just got back from a takedown in Newark," Ranger said. "Noticed your car far away from home. Everything okay?"

I sighed. Probably Ranger had been up all night and was exhausted now. No need to bother him with my family problems. I was sure if I asked him, he'd come and help me, but then I'd feel guilty for keeping him up for what might turn out to be nothing.

"Yep, everything's a-okay. Just running an errand for my mom." That wasn't a lie after all; my Mom _had_ asked me to find my dad.

"At 5:30 in the morning?" Ranger asked.

"Yes," I replied, unable to come up with a better reply.

"Need help?" Ranger asked and I knew I just had to say the word.

"No, I got it," I lied.

There was a slight pause and I knew Ranger was trying to decide if he should prod, but then he just said "Call me if you need anything," and disconnected.

"I will," I said to the dead line, more as a promise to myself. If I needed help, I'd let him know.

Right now, I didn't even know what I needed help with, and I didn't want to waste his time. Going to the cops was not an option either. First of all, all of Trenton would know within the hour that Dad hadn't come home the night before because cops could never keep anything to themselves. And second of all, I knew one had to be missing for 24 hours to be declared a missing person, so there was nothing they could do until then.

But there was one cop who didn't fall into that category, and he could help me make the phone calls I dreaded. I didn't want to, but I realized checking the local hospitals could help me find Dad. I knew from past experience that it was much easier for a Trenton PD detective to get information on recent arrivals than it was for a family member.

I sighed again and started the car, driving back to Dunkin' Donuts to pick up fresh coffee, and then I headed over to Morelli's house on Slater.

I let myself in and held the doughnut bag over my head, out of Bob's reach. He could smell food miles away and sure enough, came trotting out of the living room where he'd been sleeping just as I closed the door with my butt.

"One for you," I told him, trying to keep my balance as he pressed himself against me. "The rest are for the humans."

Bob devoured the doughnut with one gulp and wagged his tail, ready for more. I patted his side and told him what a good boy he was, then I made my way to the kitchen to place the bag up on the fridge, taking the coffee with me to wake Morelli.

Joe's car hadn't been outside, but I hadn't checked the garage he'd recently rebuilt, and just assumed his SUV was parked inside. At the sight of the neatly made bed, I realized I'd assumed wrong. Morelli was still at work. Shit.

I put the two Styrofoam cups down on the nightstand and dug out my cell phone, hitting his number on the speed dial. His voicemail picked up after a couple rings and I tried to remember what case he was working on, I knew he had told me. Was he even in Trenton? He'd told me while his hands were wandering over my body and I'd found it kind of hard to concentrate.

"Call me," I said after the beep and hung up.

It was time to regroup. I got the coffee off the nightstand and trudged back downstairs. I got the pen and pad from the counter and sat down at the kitchen table, and after a half hour, I was still staring at the blank page. The empty coffee cup was my only progress.

I sighed and dialed my parents' number, a promise was a promise. "Did you find him?" Mom asked right away.

"He wasn't at the lodge," I told her. "But I need your help with his friends, I don't know their names or where they live."

"Not at the lodge? But that's where he went…" Oh boy.

"Let me talk to Grandma," I said, sensing there was no use asking my mom for information, she sounded like she was about to start tippling.

"Did you find him?" Grandma wanted to know when she came on the line.

"Nobody was at the Lodge," I said. "Now I need some of Dad's friends' addresses so I can drive by their houses."

Probably I should know the names of my dad's friends, but I couldn't dwell on that now. As long as I knew where to get the information, I was okay.

Grandma gave ma a few names I recognized and I thanked her. "I'm going to take a shower now and then I'm on my way," I said.

"Oh they'll be up," Grandma Mazur said. "In case you want to wait until they wake up? They're early risers."

I didn't know if she was just saying that to wake up half the Burg, so I was still going to wait. "Are these three all of his friends?" I asked.

"Those are the ones that come to mind. I can ask your mother if…"

"No, that's okay," I said. I didn't want my mom to have a nervous breakdown. "I'll try them first and let you know."

Really, I'd meant to take a quick shower and be on my way, but once I was back up in Morelli's bedroom and the bed looked way too warm and comfortable, I put the remaining coffee on the nightstand and threw back the comforter. Maybe just a quick nap, I thought and lay down. It had been an exhausting morning and the lack of sleep was catching up with me, I'd had maybe three hours the night before.

Slobbery kisses woke me, and I was momentarily disoriented until I recognized Bob's excited huffing and pushed him off of me.

"Yeah Dog, off my territory," Morelli said, pushing himself off the doorjamb as he smiled and when he sat down on the bed, I noticed how tired he looked. His clothes were the same I remembered him wearing the day before, like he hadn't slept yet. Had anybody slept last night?

"Why didn't you tell me you were here?"

He ran his hand over the blanket that was covering me. "I'm not heref," I said and squinted to see the alarm clock on the nightstand.

"And you brought coffee," Morelli said and picked up the cup, then grimaced. "Cold coffee." He put the cup back down and looked at me. "Everything alright?"

I struggled to sit up. "I meant I shouldn't be here. I'm supposed to look for my dad."

Morelli raised his eyebrows. "I'm gonna nuke up the coffee and wake you with it up so you can tell me the whole story." He got up and took the coffee cups with him downstairs.

I groaned groggily and managed to push my legs out of bed. It was 9:30, I hadn't slept all that long, but I felt like I had a hangover. Deciding a shower would help, I dragged myself into the bathroom and stripped out of my clothes.

Twenty minutes later, I joined Morelli at the kitchen table feeling somewhat refreshed and wearing clean clothes. He'd spread the doughnuts on the bag, and I finally found my appetite and hungrily bit into a Boston Crème.

"So Cupcake, you want to tell me what's going on? I got your message, but you didn't answer your cell." He jerked his head over to my purse on the counter. "Now I know why."

I told him the story so far. That didn't take me long, I hadn't found out anything.

"Frank is missing?" he asked.

I nodded. "And I know you can't do anything official, but I was hoping you could call the hospitals for me?"

"You don't think…"

I held up my hand to stop him. "No. But I want to be sure."

Joe just nodded and took another sip of his coffee, grimacing at the warmed-up taste, then he pushed his chair back and stood up. "I'll see what I can find out," he said and grabbed his cell phone off his belt as he walked out of the kitchen.

I lobbed a doughnut to Bob and gathered up the empty cups and bag, pouring the rest of the coffee into the sink before tossing everything in the trash. No way could I sit around and wait until Morelli had called all the hospitals, I didn't even know what I was hoping for. Did I want Dad to be at a hospital and at least know where he was, or was I hoping no ER had heard of him and he could be anywhere?

I grabbed my bag and gave Bob a hug. Joe was on the phone when I walked past, so I just made the universal 'call me' gesture and let myself out. Morelli held up his index finger, signaling '1 minute', but I shook my head and motioned towards the outside. "I have to go," I mouthed and left. I didn't even know why it was so important that I left right that minute, I felt like I was driven by a motor, I had to go, go ,go, be on the move. It may have been a surge from the sugar, or just panic.

Armed with the list of names and address Grandma Mazur gave me, I took off. All of my dad's friends that she could think of lived in the Burg. By now, I was pretty sure my dad's disappearance was no longer a secret. He always parked his car in the driveway, since Big Blue took up the garage when I wasn't using it, and the absence of his Buick would have been noted. So I wasn't really surprised when Carolyn Roland, Dick Roland's wife, opened the door with a pitiful expression on her face.

"You're looking for Frank, aren't you?" she greeted me. I just nodded.

"Have you seen him this morning? Is your husband…"

Dick Roland appeared from behind his wife and stood beside her. "We played cards last night," he said without preamble. "Then we both went home. Well, I went home…" he looked down at his shoes and I was wondering if he was hiding something.

"Did my dad leave in his car?" I asked.

He nodded. "Same as always. We left at the same time and walked to the parking lot together."  
"What time was this?" I felt like a cop now and wondered if this was how Morelli's every day went.

"Ten-ish," Roland said.

"More like 10:30," his wife said. "You weren't home until 11."

"Right," Roland agreed. "The usual time."

"Did my dad say where he was going?" I asked.

"No. But neither did I. We always go home after the game, where else would we go?" He looked confused. If he was hiding something, I was pretty sure he was hiding it from his wife as well, so it wouldn't do any good to pry. Probably I'd get the same confused look if I asked if he'd noticed anything out of the ordinary.

I could tell this wouldn't get me anywhere. I thanked them and said goodbye, mentally checking Dick Roland off my list. This would be a long day, if my first stop was any indication.

My phone rang just as I was on my way to the second friend, Eddie Palmera.

"Good news," Morelli said when I answered. "Your dad wasn't admitted to any of Trenton's hospitals, and there aren't any John Does left unidentified either."

I sighed, and despite my earlier confusion, I had to agree it was good news. "Now what?" I asked Morelli.

"Where was he last seen?" Morelli wanted to know.

"In the parking lot of the Lodge," I said. "I told you."

"Somebody must have seen him leave."

"I'm at his friend's house now," I said. "He left with Dad, and this was at 10:30." I let out a long frustrated breath. "I have two more names, but I don't think I'm gonna get anything more. It's like he vanished from the parking lot."

"I'm gonna check with the guys from the night shift," Morelli said. "And I'll check the logs as soon as I get in today. We'll find him, Cupcake."

"You can't know that." Okay, that was unfair since I knew Morelli was just trying to make me feel better, but I couldn't help it, I was frustrated.

"I know your dad," Morelli said, ignoring my snark. "He'll turn up."

"I'm at Eddie Palmera's house now," I told him, parking my Escort at the curb. If I stayed on the phone with him any longer, I would let my frustration out on him, I just knew it. "I'll call you later."

I put my phone back into my shoulder bag and stared at the Palmeras' row house, as if it could give me any answers. "Where are you Dad?" I asked out loud. I didn't think Palmera would know any more than Roland had, or if he did, he wouldn't admit it in front of his wife. And at 10:30 on Saturday, all Burg wives were home preparing lunch. Probably it was false hope that there anyone knew more than Dick Roland had told me. Dad's friends weren't the right direction, I needed a better plan.

I took my phone out and called my mom again, hoping for something like 'Guess what, he just walked in the door, he pulled an all-nighter in Atlantic City' or something. But no such luck, as it turned out, my mom was hoping for a similar message from me. "I'll keep looking," I told her before we disconnected.

But I had a different kind of looking in mind; I wasn't going to drive from one friend's house to the next just to get the same non-information. I started the car back up and was on my way to RangeMan on Haywood Avenue without a second thought. I'd done enough researches on people there to know that RangeMan had the best programs, and although I wasn't sure I was ready to find out if my dad had any secrets, I thought doing a search on him would be the shortcut to discover them.

The control room on the 5th floor was quiet when I got there. Ram and Woody were at the monitors, Hal and Junior were at their desks working on the computer. They'd known I was there as soon as my car had pulled into the underground garage, so they weren't surprised to see me.

Ram looked up first. "Stephanie! To what do we owe the honor?" Woody snorted at that and gave me a wave.

"I just need to check on a skip," I said. I wasn't ready to share my dad's disappearance just yet. "Can I run a background check?"

"Sure," Junior said from behind me. "I'll go and reactivate your login."

If they were curious why all of a sudden Connie's programs weren't enough to tell me what I needed to know about an FTA, they didn't let it show. They acted as if I showed up every day asking favors, when the last time I used any computer in the building was when I had looked for more information on Ranger's doppelganger and had used his personal laptop.

I sat down in the cube I'd used when I'd worked at RangeMan and booted up the computer, hoping I'd remember enough about the search programs to not have to ask for help.

It felt totally weird to be doing a search on a family member. I felt like I was rooting through his closet or something, like I was invading his privacy. It was wrong, and I was praying I wouldn't find any skeletons in this 'closet', but I was desperate, my dad's missing had me in a state, I couldn't focus on anything but the search.

Dad had graduated from high school and had joined the Army, but he didn't talk much about it. There was a lot about it in the report, but if it turned out to be important, I'd need an interpreter to understand it. It went on to the parts I was familiar with, the wedding to my mom, his job at the post office, his cab driver license. My name was underscored, indicating there was a longish report on me as well, not surprisingly. The friends Grandma had mentioned appeared as well, but not underscored. I breathed a sigh of relief when I found nothing I didn't already know, like the deed to the house, his car buying history and such.

The program only marked 'persons of interest', as in there were a few police reports or something. That made me go back to the Army stuff again, as several names had been marked there, four in all. This would take longer than I'd anticipated.

But since it was the only thing that could possibly turn into a lead, I had to check them all. It was almost noon and I had nothing else, as if Dad had just vanished off the face of the Earth.

I was beginning to get scared. What had I missed? Where could he possibly be? Why hadn't he called?

TBC

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A/N: OK peeps, here I go again. So where do you think Frank could possibly be? Kidnapped? In the arms of another woman? Does he lead a secret life Steph can't even imagine?? And who could help Steph find him if she can't rely on her family?? Tell me where you think he could be and maybe I'll use your suggestion and your name is in one of the future chapters...


	2. Chapter 2

I apologize for the long wait, RL got in the way and scared my muse away for a few weeks. As a result, I think I'm going to post shorter chapters more frequently from now on, but feel free to tell me if you prefer longer chapters less often.

Thank you all for your wonderful reviews and the amazing ideas, I'll be using them shamelessly in due time.

Thankee-Sai to Stayce who lets me bug her at all hours of the day without ever complaining. And then she manages to iron out the kinks and bumps so it ends up being a readable chapter!

Once again, I randomly picked a Bon Jovi song title that does not reflect what the story's about. I just love their songs.

Disclaimer: I keep checking, but all characters still belong to JE

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These Days

Chapter 2

I wasn't sure how much time had passed, I was on my fourth or fifth read of the report, trying to pinpoint why something in it had my spidey sense tingling. Something just didn't _feel _right, although it all read normal enough.

And then it hit me so suddenly I almost fell off the chair. How many times had I read about his cab license? In fact, the first thing that came to mind when Mom mentioned Dad went to the Lodge was that he took the cab out Friday nights and ended up playing cards. The cab! The fucking cab, where was it? I knew my dad's Buick was missing, and it never occurred to me that dad hadn't even driven it.

So both of Dad's cars were missing, it was getting weirder and weirder. But the good news was, the police could search for missing cars right away, they didn't have to wait 24 hours, like with missing persons.

I called Morelli from the desk phone. "Dad's cars are both missing," I said. "You can put them on the list right away, right?"  
"Which one did he leave the house with?" Morelli wanted to know.

"The cab," I said, 90 percent sure. I hadn't even bothered to ask, mental head slap.

"You got the plate number?"

"Hang on." I went back to the report, couldn't find the information, and made myself start over, following each line with my finger as I read. I was mighty proud I'd thought of the report, since I had no idea what my dad's license plates were, I didn't even know the exact model of the cars!

"I can make this official," Morelli said. "Within minutes, every police computer in the state will have a copy of this."

"What about out of state?" I asked. Pennsylvania was only minutes away.

"Do you have reason to believe…oh fuck it, let's just say you do. I can make it a tri-state thing without a problem. That should cover it for now."  
"Thank you," I said. It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulder.

"How're you holding up?" Morelli asked.

"I'll feel better when Dad is back home with Mom," I said honestly, "But I'm okay."

"Hang in there," he said and we disconnected and I went back to reading the report, but it felt better now that I knew I wasn't alone in this.

"I smell something burning," Ranger said from close behind me and I jumped about a foot in my chair.

I turned to face him and glare at him. He stood leaned against the cubicle wall, looking like he was thinking about smiling. He was in his usual head-to-toe black. I figured he'd slept since I last talked to him, at least he didn't look tired. He looked ready for anything. Me, I suppose I only looked ready for sleep.

"Don't sneak up on me like that," I scolded, and this brought the full-on smile from him.

"I don't sneak, Babe."

I rolled my eyes. Sometimes Ranger liked to pour on the macho.

"Heavy reading?" he asked, inclining his head towards the report in my hands.

I sighed and handed him the report. "I'm looking for my dad."

Ranger took the papers from me and scanned them. "Care to elaborate?"

"He didn't come home after poker last night," I said, surprised at how it could be summed up in one sentence. "And no one knows where he is. He's disappeared."

Ranger raised an eyebrow. "Were you looking for him at 5:30 this morning?"

I could feel the heat creep up my face, embarrassed at how easily he had caught me lying. I cleared my throat and decided to just move on. "He was last seen at the Lodge with his buddies, so that's where I went first."

Then I filled Ranger in on the rest on my less-than-productive morning. "That's when I decided to run the report," I said, pointing at the papers in his hand.

"Anything interesting?" Ranger asked.

"Both of my dad's cars are missing," I said. Ranger raised an eyebrow. "His Buick and his cab," I explained. Morelli is getting the word out, since they can't officially look for Dad yet."

Ranger nodded. "Anything else?"

"I think so," I said and Ranger did his almost smile again. "I mean, there's some stuff I want to look into." I threw my hands up. "It's not like I have anything else to go on."

"Need any help?" Ranger asked.

I sighed and nodded. "Maybe you can read it and tell me if there's an angle. There are some names in his file that seem to have a record, too. I was thinking I could follow up on the names."

Ranger read the report for a minute and then he whistled softly. "What??"

"I didn't know your dad was 714."

Unless that was code for something, I didn't know what he was talking about. Okay, if it was code, I was clueless, too. "What's that mean?"

"You never told me he was in the Army."

I waved my hand dismissively. "No big deal. I think he was drafted like everyone else."

"And yet you think it could be related to his disappearance?" Ranger asked, the smile still playing around his lips.

I blew out some air and got up. "So what's 714?"

"It's a special unit, not very well known outside the military. Counter intelligence, mostly, some internal affairs."  
My jaw dropped. "My dad was a spy?"

Ranger barked a laugh and took my elbow, leading me away from my cube towards his office. "I doubt that. These are the guys manning radios, listening in on enemy broadcasts, deciphering messages, that kind of thing."

"Spy work," I said, still not over my initial shock.

Ranger shook his head, smiling. "You watch too many movies."

"Well, what then?" I asked as we entered his office. He was right, of course, I was already picturing my dad as some 60's version of Jason Bourne, except it was really disturbing when I compared that picture to what I knew about him.

Ranger sat down behind his desk and logged on to his computer. After he tapped a few keys, he motioned for me to join him, pointing at the monitor. "It'll take me some time to find out what exactly he was doing, but the main difference is, his unit didn't do the wet work, in the field. He most likely had a desk job, typing up broadcasts, locating enemy units and things like that."

"Oh," I said as I looked at the screen. A desk job sounded a lot more like Dad, I had to admit.

Ranger had brought up some sort of org chart of Army units that didn't mean anything to me. I could see Unit 714 among many, some above it, a lot below it. It was all Greek to me.

"Let me work on this angle," Ranger suggested. "You stay local. Follow his track from the lodge, what way would he have taken home? Find out if anyone has seen his cars, or when they were last seen."

When I walked out of Ranger's office, I felt relieved. I had help. Morelli was looking for Dad's cars, and I was sure he put out the unofficial word to look for Dad as well, and Ranger was tapping into his Army contacts, which would be much faster than if I researched every name individually. And I already had my next step as well, I was going to track Dad's route from the Lodge, which had the benefit of getting me out of the office and moving again. Sitting at a computer gave me way too much time to spin the worst case scenario out in my head, I was better off on the street.

My phone rang just as I stepped off the elevator downstairs. It was Morelli. "I talked to your mom," he said. "Just wanted you to know she's okay. I told her we were doing everything we can and I think she was relieved when I told her to just stay put."

I told him about the report and that Ranger was helping as well. "I think we got it all covered then, Cupcake," he said. "We're gonna find him. It's just a matter of time."

I wish I could say I shared his enthusiasm, but it helped that he was so convinced. I thanked him for the update and we disconnected.

I called Lula when I left RangeMan's underground garage, hoping she might not have anything better to do than to keep me company. Who knew, maybe she had some ideas that could help as well, although I mostly hoped she would keep me from getting hysterical if I didn't find anything new.

I was a little vague on the phone, so when she got into my car in front of the bonds office, I expected her to ask questions. Instead, she just buckled in and turned to me. "About time you brought me in," she said. "I was feelin' kinda left out after Connie told me all about your dad missing this morning."

Of course. Mental head slap. Connie was tapped into the Burg grapevine and was always among the first to hear new gossip. And here I was, asking Lula to meet me in front of the office to avoid questions as to who I was after and why I wasn't asking about any new skips.

"What's the word, did Connie hear anything?" I asked Lula.

"You mean anything you wouldn't have heard first?" Lula looked confused. After all this time, she still didn't quite understand the Burg grapevine, and that there may be rumors the people in question had no clue about.

I turned to face her and counted off my fingers. "I talked to a few of my dad's friends. He left the Lodge with them at 10:30 and hasn't been seen since. Both of his cars are missing. My mom is about to start tippling heavily. You know anything else?"  
"I didn't hear about the drinking, but I expected that one," she said. "Is it just you and me looking for him?"

"Joe is looking for the cars and I just know he told everyone to look for Dad, even though he's not officially a missing person yet. I ran a background check and Ranger is looking into the persons of interest that came up in it."

"I hope there wasn't anything too surprising in your dad's background, if you know what I mean," Lula said.

I shook my head and finally started the car. "I knew most of the stuff in it, and what I didn't know wasn't shocking." Curious maybe, and maybe there would be more to it, but not shocking. Thank God for small favors!

"And they come here every week?" Lula asked when we were idling at the curb in front of the Lodge. "No wonder they drink, this here is the most depressing building I've seen in all of the neighborhood."

"It's much nicer inside," I said, although I had to admit she had a point. "We don't really look at the outside much."  
"Hunh," Lula just said, and I wondered if she was aware we were making small talk to avoid talking about the real issue. I know I was.

I took out a notepad and a pen and handed them to Lula. "Okay, we know he left here at 10:30. I figured we write down the step-by-step from here. We have to bridge the gap between 10:30 and 3 AM."

"What happened at 3 AM?" Lula wanted to know.

"My mom called me after she woke up in her bed alone."

Lula nodded and wrote on the pad. "How far is it from here to your parents' house?"

"About ten minutes." I pulled away from the curb and drove down the street towards my parents' house. At night, without traffic, there was no need to take a shortcut, I figured. Dad would have driven straight down Ashmore, so that's what I did. "You want to look for a yellow taxi cab and a wine red Buick," I told Lula. "Holler if you see either of them."

"Gonna be a lot of hollering," Lula said and when I looked up, she nodded across the street. "Lots of cabs around." She was right; one was approaching us just then.

"Look for ones parked," I said. Or sitting with their doors open, looking abandoned…and there was the mental image of Dad being dragged out of his cab after someone had shot the tires and the windshield. I shuddered involuntarily. "Just look for those that don't seem to belong."

I drove as slowly as traffic permitted, one eye on the left hand side of the road, while Lula scanned the right side. It was a typical Saturday afternoon in the Burg. Kids were out playing on the sidewalks, men were washing their cars, seniors were on the stoops watching it all and housewives were most likely inside, doing housewifey things, or they were out shopping. I didn't see a single thing out of the ordinary, and when we pulled up outside my parents' house, I put the short the trip in the 'no stone unturned' category.

Turning off the engine, I turned to Lula. "Have you had lunch?"  
"No, and all this watching out has made me hungry," she said as she unbuckled her seat belt.

I just knew my mom would have lunch ready, I figured she had had enough interruptions to her routine and couldn't stand another one. Probably she would still cook a Saturday dinner as well. And I wanted to check up on her anyway, although Morelli had called her, I wanted to make sure she was okay.

Usually, I wondered how my mother and grandmother somehow knew I was at their house, today, the sight of them standing side by side behind the screen door was very comforting. I guess I was clinging to some routine just like my mom.

I painted a smile on my face as Lula and I approached the front door. "We came to have lunch with you guys," I said.

"So you haven't found your father?" my mother asked.

"Not yet," Lula answered for me. "But we're looking everywhere, won't be long now."

I sent her a grateful look as I held the door for her to enter first, she had said it with such conviction that even I believed her. And who knew, she could be right. I guess I wanted to believe that as much as my mom, I was still denying the possibility that something bad had happened to Dad. Denial was what usually kept me sane.

Lula and I sat down with Mom and Grandma Mazur and had sandwiches, potato salad and milk, and that was exactly the comfort food I needed. Between mouthfuls, I told my mom how I'd spent my day so far, and that Morelli and Ranger were looking for Dad as well. I wanted to make sure she knew everything possible was being done.

"This is just not like your father," Mom said for the umpteenth time that hour.

"It's always the quiet ones," Grandma Mazur said and I shot her a wary look. I wished she kept those wisdoms to herself while I was worried my mom was going to lose it any moment now.

"Frank is _not _like Fred," Mom pointed out and I had a feeling they were picking up an earlier conversation. "There's not a soul in the world who dislikes him." Grandma Mazur just pressed her lips together.

"That's got to be the best potato salad I've ever had, Mrs. Plum," Lula said into the uncomfortable silence.

"I get it from Giovichini's," Mom said, absentmindedly I think, but Lula had more questions about the salad, and soon, she had Mom distracted.

Talk about food always works in my family. I could tell that Mom was worried sick, but a guest was talking about the meal we were having, so she answered the questions and put the worrying in the background for a couple minutes. I was patting myself on the shoulder for bringing Lula along, my second good idea today after asking Joe and Ranger for help.

Then I got choked up because I had so many friends who were willing to put their own lives on hold just to help me, and I had to excuse myself to hide in the bathroom until I was sure I wasn't going to bawl. It had been quite the emotional day for me as well, and I couldn't wait for it to be over.

Mom packed us lunch bags even though we'd just eaten, she said we needed to keep up our strength if we were going to drive around all day, and Lula wholeheartedly agreed. So we trudged back to my car loaded with brown paper backs when my phone rang.

"How soon can you be at RangeMan?" Ranger asked when I answered.

No need to tell him where I was, he knew. Probably he was in the control room, looking at the GPS monitor while he was talking to me. He only asked because he didn't know if I was in the middle of something, say lunch, or ready to leave.

"I'm already on my way," I told him. "Lula is with me, we'll be there in 10 minutes."

Lula looked at me questioningly as she buckled in. "I think Ranger has news," I said. "We're going to RangeMan."

Her face lit up. "I couldn't have planned that better myself. Lunch and then a nooner with my man."  
Sometimes I wish my life was as simple as Lula's. Of course, I realized, it could be, if I didn't throw in most of the complications myself.

Take Tank for example, I mused as I put the car in gear and threaded it into the afternoon traffic. Lula meets Tank, Tank meets Lula, and they've been together ever since, like a year ago. They were enjoying their happily ever after, so to say. I met Joe and I met Ranger and my love life had never been more complicated. I had no idea if I even wanted a happily ever after, and I certainly didn't know who I wanted it with. It was a big mess, so I was unhappy. Lula had her man, and she was happy. Sometimes life wasn't fair. And then I wondered about the men in my life and which one of them could make life fair for me.

When I pulled into RangeMan's underground garage, I realized I'd spent the whole drive over lost in my thoughts about love and life, and had totally forgotten about my dad, or to check my surroundings. I felt guilty immediately and tried to hide the blush that crept over my face as I parked the car and practically jumped out as soon as the engine had died.

"Hold up," Lula yelled after me as I power walked to the elevator.

She hadn't quite reached me when the door opened, and I barreled in so fast, I never got to check if anyone was in the elevator. There was, as I realized, when I ran straight into Ranger. I had so much speed that I bounced off of him, but he caught me by my upper arms before I could fall.

"In a hurry?" he asked and now I saw Lester behind him, trying to hide a grin.

By now I'd gotten over the guilt trip, but I was still embarrassed. "You said you needed to see me right away," I said lamely.

I didn't even know why I was embarrassed, it wasn't like anybody had caught me being selfish and forgetting my dad. Lula had reached the elevator and squeezed past me and Ranger.

"While you sass out what's going on, I'm gonna say hi to my teddy bear real quick," she said and pushed a button on the panel.

That did send Lester over the edge, he stepped out of the elevator grinning. "Call in if you need back up, Santos," Ranger said as he took a step back, taking me with him back into the elevator just before the doors closed.

When we stopped on the fourth floor, Lula sent us a finger wave and left us alone. Ranger pointed his key fob at the reader and pressed the button for seven. "I found some stuff I want to share with you," he said when I raised my eyebrows. "I have the paperwork upstairs."

An almost smile played around his lips. "You okay with that?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" I asked.

Ranger shrugged, that is, he moved one of his shoulders a fraction of an inch. "You usually don't come rushing in here, just wanted to make sure I'm not keeping you from something important."

I rolled my eyes and left it at that. Probably Ranger thought I was flustered because I'd run into him. I was, but I decided not to dwell on that because he'd already occupied half my mind on the way over, the half that wasn't occupied by Morelli, and I _really_ had to get back to my reason for being there now.

"What did you find?" I asked Ranger when we stepped out of the elevator on the seventh floor and he keyed his front door open.

Ranger tossed his keys into the dish on the table next to the door and turned to me. "What do you know about the Army, special forces and chain of command, that kind of thing?"

"They wear uniforms and salute each other," I wise-cracked and that got me a real smile from Ranger.

"Cute," he said and walked into the kitchen to get himself a bottle of water. He handed me one as well and motioned me into his office.

"I'll give you the Cliffs Notes version. Your father was in unit 714, out of Radcliff, Kentucky."

I frowned. "I never heard about Kentucky. I'm sure Dad would have mentioned it one way or another."

"He was drafted right out of high school," Ranger said, pointing to the original background report. "Basic training, then 'Nam. I'm sure Fort Knox wasn't all that impressive in comparison."

"Fort Knox is in Radcliff?" I asked, utterly confused.

He waved his hand dismissively. "It's not really important. What matters is who his superiors were."

"Why?" I wanted to know. "Wouldn't what he did matter more? Suppose he discovered someone was a double agent? Suppose my dad found out about them and…"

Ranger smiled and shook his head, chuckling. "That might come later. We check out his commanding officer first."

"I thought you said you've already found something out?" Wasn't that why he'd asked me here?

Ranger closed the distance between us and leaned down, until his mouth was about an inch from mine, taking the bottle of water out of my hand.

"I lied."

TBC

* * *

A/N: It's not what you think. Unless, of course, you're thinking what I'm thinking…LOL Just kidding, bear with me. Do you think Ranger lured Steph up to his apartment to take advantage of her? Do you think anyone is on the right track?


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I keep checking, but all characters still belong to JE

I know I said shorter chapters would post faster, but I really thought they would! And then RL came running along…I'm sorry it took me so long to update and you don't even get a long chapter.

If I didn't get to thank you individually, I did appreciate the reviews very much and hope you will continue to enjoy the story.

Big thank you hugs to Melody for brainstorming and suggesting, and Stayce for editing and translating into English 

Disclaimer: All characters are JE's, I'm just borrowing them without rolling in millions

* * *

These Days

Chapter 3

I rolled my eyes. "You don't lie…"

Ranger reached out and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. "You never come running into my arms. There's a first time for everything." There was a sparkle in his eyes that was clearly challenging me, daring me to have a comeback for that. The corners of his mouth quirked up into a smile.

"I didn't…" That's as far as my protest got, because Ranger had lowered his head further and kissed me. I gasped in surprise and he took that opportunity to slip his tongue between my teeth. When it touched mine, I felt a spark of electricity travel south and pool in my belly, warming me.

I felt the day's tension slip away and when Ranger pulled his head back, I had molded my body against his. I cleared my throat and tried to take a step back, but Ranger held on to me.

"Care to tell me what happened on your way over that had you all hot and bothered when you arrived?"

Hot and bothe…oh, now it was starting to make sense. My eyes widened as the realization hit me! Ranger had misinterpreted my embarrassment for…except Ranger doesn't misinterpret, so that didn't make sense either. I groaned inwardly as I realized he'd been right, thinking about him and Morelli on my way over had me in a state! That's the thing about my denial, I can't control the direction it'll take me. I usually successfully distract myself from the problem at hand, but sometimes, I create a whole new problem. Now I was _really _embarrassed!!

I took a deep breath and wiggled out of his grip. "I'm very worried about my dad," I said.

Ranger was still smiling as he took a step back. "I could make you forget about your worries."

That brought a smile from me, because I knew he was right. I opened my mouth to thank him for the offer and decline, but he held his hand up.

"Just trying to lighten the mood, Babe. I got two men on it who are looking into every detail even as we speak. It won't be long now until I get the details." He turned and walked over to his desk, picking up a file folder. "There are a couple of people on your dad's record that have their tracks covered pretty well."

So Ranger had lied about lying, I realized. Well, it had worked; he'd lightened the mood for a second. What's the old saying? If you can't convince them, confuse them?

"The underlined names?" I asked, forcing my mind back and trying to focus.

Ranger nodded. "I ran into a few roadblocks searching for anything on them, even with my clearance. That doesn't happen too often. That's why Junior and Silvio are digging deeper."

"Do you think the Army could have something to do with Dad's disappearance?" I asked. I've had that nagging thought ever since I'd run his report, and then when Ranger told me about this spy stuff. And the fact that Ranger was denied access and seemed curious sort of intensified it.

"I think it's possible," he said vaguely.

"But you don't know," I said, and my voice may have sounded a little impatient by then, but I couldn't help it. Everything and everyone was vague.

Ranger dropped the file back onto his desk and came over to where I was still standing. "We're gonna find him," he said softly and ran a hand over my hair.

"You don't know that," I said, louder than intended. "Joe said the same thing and look where we are, a day later." I jerked up my hand, "Not a trace of him!"

I felt the first waves of hysteria washing up inside me. For the first time, I realized_ not_ finding Dad was a real possibility.

Ranger placed his hand on the small of my back and led me out to the living room where he gently nudged me onto the couch. "I get that you're worried," he said, sitting down next to me. "But you've looked for missing persons before, and for more than a day."

"Yeah, but I usually found them dead," I said.

"Negative thinking is not gonna help," Ranger pointed out. "You can't give up like that. The searches we're running, they take time. You've done your part, now let me do mine."

"I can't just sit here on my hands," I said. "I have to find him!"

Ranger let out a breath that came close to a sigh and put his arm around me. "First, you have to try and calm down. Then check in with Morelli, maybe he's found something. Then we can go back to questioning your dad's friends." He ran his fingers over my shoulder and it felt like some of his strength was seeping into me.

"I already tried that," I said. "Either they don't know anything or they're not sharing."

"Not about last night," Ranger said. "I'm talking about his Army friends he has here in Trenton."

I frowned. "If the Army's behind it, why didn't Dad call to tell my mom he was going to take part in some boot camp or whatever?"

"Because it may not be official business."

"If you're trying to calm me down, it's not working. I can worry on my own, you don't need to add fuel to the fire," I said and tried to get up.

Ranger held me back by my arm. "Babe, I'm not saying something happened to your dad. I'm only throwing the possibility out there that he may not have left voluntarily."

I snorted. "That was obvious last night."

Ranger ignored my comment and took a piece of paper out of one of his cargo pockets. "This is a list of all surviving members of his unit," he said. "And I've highlighted the ones that live close. You and I are going to go for a ride." He stood up and held his hand out to me. "If you're up for it."

I was up for anything that had me on the move and not alone with my thoughts. And frankly, I didn't have a better idea. I wanted to have Dad home safe and sound within 24 hours, I didn't think my mom would hold up much longer than that.

"Okay," I said. "If you think there's a chance they know something."

Ranger took my hand and pulled me up. "No stone unturned. I'll buy you dinner after we're done."

If it hadn't been for Ranger, now would have been the time I would have gotten desperate. And I knew from experience the tears wouldn't be far behind. He was right of course, what good would that do anyone? I'd feel even more miserable and my dad would still be missing. After all, no news could be good news, right? I just had to work harder at believing that.

I hooked my arm through his in the hopes I could borrow some strength from him as we walked out of his apartment.

My cell phone rang just as we got on the elevator. "Some progress, Cupcake," Joe said when I answered. "We found your dad's cab."

My heart skipped a beat and my breath hitched in my throat. "Was my dad in it?"  
Ranger shot me a look but kept quiet. "No. And no signs of struggle either." I knew he meant there was no blood. That was good news, right?

"Where did you find it?" I asked.

"Newark International," Joe said. "Long term parking."

A light bulb went on in my head. "They monitor the parking lots," I said, very excited now. "Do they have footage?"

Ranger nodded his approval, but he didn't seem surprised that I thought if this. "Yep, already requested the copy of the tape, I should have it later today."

Finally, a real lead! "Let me know when you get it, I'll come over. I'm on my way to visit some of Dad's Army buddies with Ranger."

"You think they had anything to do with it?" Joe asked.

"That's what we're trying to find out," I told him and we disconnected after he told me to be careful.

I relayed the information Morelli had given me to Ranger, although he had put it together from my end of the conversation. "What made you think of the surveillance tapes right away?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Just came to me I guess."

He smiled and put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me to him. "Proud of you, Babe." He kissed my temple just as we reached the garage.

Honestly, I was a bit proud of myself, too, but moreover, I was excited we were making progress. Ranger's men were looking into the records, Joe was going to review the tapes, and Ranger and I were going to visit Dad's Army buddies.

One of those had to lead to something, I told myself, there was no way we'd all run into dead ends.

"I never heard Dad mention a Brian Dickson," I said when we were in the car and Ranger had handed me the list.

"Maybe they didn't stay in touch. Or maybe he called him by a nick name," Ranger said and then he slipped into his driving zone.

"Like what, Snake? Peg Leg? Ranger?" He pretended to ignore me, but I saw the little eye roll he did and smiled. Ranger's blank face was slipping, if he wasn't careful, he'd adopt more of my mannerisms. That thought almost made me giggle and I bit my cheek to keep it in. Then I reminded myself where this distraction routine had led me an hour earlier and tried to focus.

I took the time to go down the list of names, since I knew Ranger didn't need any turn-by-turn directions from me, I'd never seen him consult a map for an address in or around Trenton. It was like he had built-in GPS.

For some reason I'd expected to find my dad's friends' names on the list, but none of the people sounded familiar. Then again, I reminded myself, I had to ask Grandma Mazur for the names of his friends from the Burg that morning, so me not recognizing the names wasn't saying much. Maybe I'd know them once I saw them.

Dickson lived in Levittown, about 10 miles south, but since we were in rush hour traffic, it took us a half hour, bumper to bumper in the heat of early summer afternoon. It was the first time I'd been in the car with anyone who doesn't swear while driving in Trenton's traffic. Ranger stayed in his zone, even when people cut us off, and I didn't even know why I noticed it, that's how he always was.

I had no zone, whether I was driving or not. Not for the first time, I found myself wishing Ranger would teach me how to find a zone, any zone, something that would make me stay calm.

Dickson lived in a white ranch style that differed very little from all the other houses on the block, it was your typical middle class neighborhood. Judging from the maturity of trees and shrubs, I figured it had looked exactly like this for at least twenty years. Hondas and Toyotas in the driveways, American flags in the front yards.

Ranger parked and killed the engine, but he didn't get out of the car right away. He looked up and down the street, then at the house across from Dickson, as if looking for something, anything, unusual. And I was paying attention, taking my cue from Ranger.

After a minute of apparently not spotting anything out of the ordinary, Ranger turned to me. "Let me do the talking on this one," he said. "If you don't mind. From his file, it sounds like this guy is old school Army and I might have an in with him."

That was okay with me, I really didn't know how to talk to this guy other than 'Have you seen my dad?', at that just seemed lame. I was pretty sure Ranger would have something more eloquent to say, so I stayed a couple steps behind him as we walked up the three steps to Dickson's front door.

There was a light on inside, but it was hard to tell if it was an always-on burglar light or it meant someone was home. No one had answered the door after Ranger had rung the bell three times, and Ranger turned to me.

"Now what?" I asked. "You gonna kick in the door?"

He knew I was kidding and a small smile played around his lips. "You watch too many movies. Guess we'll leave Dickson for last, see if he's home by then."

Just as we walked down the steps, the front door opened so softly that if I hadn't caught the movement in my peripheral vision, I would have missed it.

"Yes?" a woman, about my parents' age asked. She was wearing a light blue house dress and her salt-and-pepper hair was up in a knot. Her pale blue eyes looked like they didn't miss much. She looked just like a Burg housewife, in a way.

"My name is Carlos Manoso," Ranger said, turning to her as he extended his hand. "This is my associate Stephanie. We're looking for Brian Dickson?"

Ranger's voice was smooth and friendly, about as unthreatening as a newborn kitten. I kept my face blank with some effort, otherwise I would have snorted or giggled, or both.

"Brian…" the woman began but stopped to grab a tissue out of her dress pocket. She blew her nose and cleared he throat. "Brian isn't…he isn't here right now," she said. Now I noticed her bloodshot eyes that I'd mistaken for a sign of fatigue.

"Are you expecting him back soon?" Ranger asked, still car salesman smooth, smiling at her, keeping his distance.

And suddenly the woman took a deep breath that was more like a sob, excused herself and turned around to blow her nose again. Ranger took a step forward. "Is everything all right Mrs.….Dickson?"

She slowly turned to face us again, her shoulders slumped. "Yes, I am Mrs. Dickson. Brian didn't come home last night," she said tonelessly. "The police said they can't look for him yet, because he hasn't been missing long enough, but I know my husband, Mr. Manoso. I know he's missing."

The fact that Mrs. Dickson trusted Ranger so easily didn't register until later because at that moment, I was too shocked. What were the odds my dad and one of his Army buddies went missing the same night? If we continued down the list, would we find all of them missing??

I barely noticed how I walked back to the car without a word, I heard Ranger talking to Mrs. Dickson behind me, but I couldn't make out the words over the rushing blood in my ears.

I had no evidence my dad's disappearance and Dickson's were related, and certainly no evidence something 'bad' had happened to either of them, but that logic didn't apply to the panic I felt as I somehow made it back to the car.

I don't even know if I meant to jump into Ranger's car and drive off or something, by the time I reached the Turbo, I had a hard time breathing and couldn't bear the idea of sitting somewhere enclosed. In a far corner of my mind, I was wondering if I was having a panic attack.

Some time later, it was probably only a couple minutes but seemed longer at the time, Ranger joined me. I was sitting on the curb with my head between my knees, trying to make the black spots I was seeing go away.

Ranger crouched down next to me. "Breathe," he said softly and ran his hand over my back soothingly. "Take deep breaths, in through the mouth, out through the nose."  
"That just makes me dizzy," I said and he chuckled softly. He was moving his hand up and down on my back and I could feel my muscles loosen.

He was smiling when I finally looked at him. "I'm sorry. I just freaked."

He slung his arm around my shoulders and held me to him, lifting me up as he straightened. "It was pretty freaky," he said and it was my turn to smile. I was pretty sure he was only trying to make me feel better, I couldn't imagine Ranger was actually freaked.

"Do you think it's a coincidence?" I asked, hoping he'd say yes, there couldn't possibly be a connection.

Ranger looked at me and our eyes held, then he shook his head almost imperceptibly. "I doubt it."

He gently turned me around and opened the Turbo's passenger door. "Only one way to find out," he said as I sat down and pulled the seatbelt over my chest. I knew what he meant, we had to visit the next name on the list. If he was home safe and sound, it could all be a weird coincidence. If he was missing as well, we'd have the closest thing we could get to actual proof something was going on. Of course, I'd still have no clue as to what was going on, but my guess was I could rule out mafia hit. But what? A hit list with Dad's unit's members on them? A clandestine Army mission?

"Babe, we're gonna find him."

I hadn't realized Ranger hadn't started the car, I'd been lost in my thoughts. He was half turned to me, his arm on the steering wheel, facing me.

I nodded weakly, but I didn't trust myself to speak. Just because everybody kept saying we were going to find him, didn't make it so, as much as I wanted to believe them. Before I could stop it, a tear rolled down my cheek.

Ranger unbuckled my seatbelt and pulled me towards him. "Trust me," he said softly, putting his arm around my shoulder and squeezing it. "I'm not one to sugar coat. We're gonna find him."

"You don't _know_ that," I repeated my earlier line. Why did everyone treat me like a kid, like I didn't know they were just trying to calm me down? I tried to pull back, but Ranger's grip on me tightened.

"I know what you can do. And I know you don't give up. I'm here to help you in any way I can, and yes, with all those things working for you, I _do_ know."

With his left hand, he gently wiped the tear from my face with his thumb, then he lifted my chin to make me look at him. "You always get your man."

His arm was strong on my shoulders, I could feel his warmth and smell his shower gel. I allowed myself a moment to relax against him, taking a deep breath. "You really think so?" I whispered.

"I know so," he said and kissed my head.

He said it with so much conviction, and I trusted Ranger. He was right, he didn't sugar coat. If he believed it, then it was because the facts pointed towards it. Ranger didn't believe it because of a gut feeling, he believed it because he thought it was true.

"Okay," I finally said, taking another deep breath. I looked up at him, managing a smile. "If you say so."

He smiled and kissed me on the nose. "Much better," he teased.

I scooted back into my seat, feeling a little better. "So where to next?"

"The next name on the list is Sean Dunnaback," he said, not needing to consult the list. "He lives in Hamilton Township. You up for it? I could drop you at home and work the list by myself." His eyes were studying me, gauging if I was strong enough, but making it my decision.

I shook my head 'no'. "I can do this," I said, convincing myself as I said it. "I couldn't possibly sit at home right now. Two could be a coincidence, three would mean we're on to something."

Ranger smiled and for a second, I saw an emotion in his eyes that looked like pride. Okay, so I'd allowed myself a small breakdown, had allowed myself to let my emotions out. But now I was ready to face the enemy again, so to speak. I had, as my mom would have called it, 'pulled myself together', I was over it.

And if Ranger thought I could do this, who was I to doubt it?

TBC

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A/N: Now what? Do you believe the Army is behind it? Or could it be someone who has old issues with Frank Plum's unit? You've told me you didn't want Frank to be having an affair, but do you think he could have known about this in advance? Like, did he even go to play cards??


	4. Chapter 4

I'm sorry it took so long to update, but the muse just wasn't with me...and some might argue that she still isn't...

Thank you all so very much for your encouraging reviews, I really appreciate the feedback.

A special thank you to Melody for her great ideas and willingness to share, and to Stayce for editing and telling it like it is!

Disclaimer: All characters are JE's, except for the ones I made up, but no one would want them

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These Days

Chapter 4

Sean Dunnaback's house in Hamilton Township was a white Cape Cod. It had a tiny front yard with a blue and white, weather beaten Virgin Mary and a kid's bike in it. There were no cars in the driveway, but the garage door was closed and lights were on inside the house.

Ranger did his routine again; he parked at the curb and took a look around before killing the engine.

Then he turned to me. "You want to wait here?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm fine now, honest. I'm coming with," I said, one hand already on the door handle.

"Just as long as you know you don't have to," Ranger said.

"I know," I confirmed and we both got out of the car.

A dog yipped in response to the door bell and about a minute later, the front door popped open an inch. "Yeah?" an old man asked. Judging by his voice, not my dad's age, much older, Grandma Mazur old.

"I'm looking for Sean Dunnaback," Ranger said.

"He's not home," the old man said.

"Has he been home in the last 24 hours?" Ranger asked. No one could accuse him of beating around the bush.

The door opened a little wider, and now we were able to see the old man. I'd been right, he looked about 150 years old, with way too much skin sagging. He was wearing brown corduroy pants and suspenders, a formerly white undershirt and slippers.

"Who are you?" he wanted to know.

"I'm Carlos Manoso, this is Stephanie Plum, and we need to speak to Mr. Dunnaback, please." I nodded, because I didn't have anything to add to that and because it was Ranger's conversation, but I wanted to at least appear polite and friendly.

"That's my son in law," the old geezer said, picking up the dog, a white miniature poodle that was now growling at us. "And I told you he's not home."

"When was the last time you saw him?" Ranger asked.

"When my daughter died, two days ago."  
I sucked in some air and clamped a hand over my mouth, suddenly afraid some inappropriate response would bubble out. Holy shit! This guy had just lost his daughter; I wasn't so sure he was all that interested in knowing where his son in law was.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Ranger said and I'd gotten myself enough under control to nod again. "Have you reported your son in law missing?"

The old man shook his head. "Nah, good riddance. We never got along, probably he figured nothing was keeping him here, you know? No love lost."

Ranger produced his business card and handed it to the man. "If you hear from him, or see him, I'd really appreciate a call," he said. "And again, I'm sorry for your loss."

"I guess I could call you if I hear from him," the old guy said, nodding. "It was the cancer took my daughter, she's not in pain anymore now."

Ranger and I nodded at that, and I started feeling like a bobble head doll in a car window. As soon as we get back to the car, Ranger called Silvio for an update.

He listened for a minute, nodded and then said, "Run a check on Sean Dunnaback. Confirm his wife died, he's MIA along with Dickson from the list. Meeting at 20:00."

He disconnected and turned to me. "We have time for one more before it gets too late for house calls, if you're up for it?"

"You don't believe his daughter died?" I asked, jerking a thumb back at the house we'd just visited. "Who'd make something like that up? And why?"

"I believe him," Ranger said. "I just want it confirmed. So you're ready for more?"

"What did Silvio find?" I asked him instead of answering right away. I needed to find out if Ranger was trying to withhold information.

Ranger did his version of a shrug. "There definitely wasn't an order. Or rather, there's definitely no record of an order. Your dad and Dickson weren't officially taken in."

"What if the order just wasn't recorded?"  
Ranger shook his head slightly. "At the depth Silvio was digging, he would have found a record. There's always a record, it's just not always public."

That made sense. I knew next to nothing about the military, but I've watched my share of X-Files to know was always a trace. "And do you think Dunnaback is number three?" I'd been wondering that since the old man closed his door. His disappearance could be explained, in a way, maybe he didn't just disappear like my dad.

"We're checking that," Ranger said. "That's why I want to see if the next guy on the list, Cullen McCarthy, is home."

I nodded and fastened my seat belt. "I'm up for it."

Ranger smiled and ran his hand over my hair. "I thought you might be."

"And I want to be at the meeting," I said. "It's about my dad after all."

An hour later, we pulled up in front of a beige sided row house in Philadelphia. The sun was getting ready to set, it was past six now. When I got out of the car I could smell dinner cooking behind many of the doors, and my stomach rumbled in response.

"I'll take you to dinner after this one," Ranger suggested, slinging his arm around my shoulders and pulling me to him.

I'd called Morelli on the way and he was still reviewing the tapes, but said he didn't have a lead yet. There was also the minor distraction of a double-homicide in Slayer territory, so he'd had to divide his attention.

I told him about our findings so far. "Hang in there Cupcake," he said. "We're getting closer. Will I see you tonight?"

I knew I definitely didn't want to be alone, just the thought of having nothing but my thoughts around depressed me. "What time will you be home?"  
Morelli sighed. "Hard to tell. I'll call you when I know." He told me to be careful and we disconnected.

I told Ranger Morelli's end of the conversation. "What the hell is taking so long? Can't he just fast-forward through the parts without my dad's car?"  
"No," Ranger just said. "I haven't seen the tape, but they can be very grainy. He might have to enhance it to see anything first. It just takes time, like the door-to-door we're doing."

Ranger and I walked up the few steps to the front door of McCarthy's house. I stayed a step behind Ranger to let him do the talking. This was more of his territory. We heard the door bell ring inside after Ranger'd pushed the button, but nothing happened. He pushed again a couple minutes later. Now I noticed there were no lights on inside. Of course, on a Saturday night, that didn't have to mean anything, I figured a lot of people weren't home at dinner time.

After the third ring, the front door next to McCarthy's opened and a woman about my age stuck her head out. "He ain't home," she said.

Ranger took a step back and turned to face her. "How do you know?"

She shrugged and came out of her house. "I'd hear his TV if he was home," she said. "The walls are very thin."  
"When was the last time you saw him?" I asked.

She thought about that for a moment, and when she answered, she looked at Ranger, not at me. "Two days ago, I think."

"I'm Carlos Manoso," Ranger said, and I didn't have to look at him to know he was giving her his full-on smile. He was very good at this talking thing when he put his mind to it, I discovered.

She took his outstretched hand. "Claire Miller. I think he's on vacation or something."

Then she went on to tell us, well, Ranger, that she usually saw McCarthy every day, except for the last two days. They weren't close enough to know each other's whereabouts, so she'd just assumed he'd gone away for a few days. Ranger left his card with her and told her to call him any time if she saw McCarthy, but I had a feeling she only heard that first part and would be calling him before the day was over.

"Looks like you made a new friend," I said when we were back in the car.

Ranger smiled. "Jealous?"

"Just making an observation," I said, but I thought I did sound a tad jealous. Not that I had a right to be, of course, but she'd practically been all over Ranger.

"You know I only have eyes for you," he said wistfully as he started the engine.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked him, my dad forgotten for the moment.

Ranger of course left my question unanswered, and maybe that was for the better. I had enough on my plate as it was.

When Ranger pulled up in front of The Roosevelt a few minutes later, I was really hungry. To 'escape', I'd given it much more thought than necessary and had wondered where he'd take us. I was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, so fine dining would have been a bit embarrassing. Fast food joints were out because there was practically nothing for Ranger to eat, unless he'd just stop to feed me. The Roosevelt was a perfect compromise, an upscale casual restaurant on the waterfront, in the hard of the old city.

"You know, I would have been okay with Burger King," I said when we entered the small restaurant.

"Yeah, because having been to all the BK's in the tri-state area would practically make you a world traveler."

I'd elbowed him before I realized what a rare occasion I'd just witnessed: Ranger had made a joke! Perfect for a comeback! "Damn. You're being funny and I don't have my calendar to mark it."

Something in Ranger's eyes flashed and I was sure he had a great retort, but we were interrupted by the hostess. "Table for two?"

We took our seats at one of the tables; the restaurant was about three quarters full already, and ordered our drinks.

"How do you know this place?" I asked Ranger. "Do they specialize in tofu or something?"

Ranger gave me a long look and that sparkle was still in his eyes. I almost expected something funny, but he must have decided to save that for later. "I come here with clients sometimes."

I ordered a burger with fries and all the fixin's and Ranger got some grilled chicken, then I took a big sip from my ice tea and pulled out the list of my dad's comrades.

"Three missing," I said, making notes.

"Two missing," Ranger corrected. "And that includes your dad. We might find the other two by tonight."

"I want to at least call the other four on the list tonight," I said and Ranger nodded. "Silvio is doing that already. He's pulling reports on every name on the list. He might have something on all of them by the time we get back."

Ranger's phone rang just as our food arrived. He cut his eyes to me and got up. "Excuse me."

I stared after him. As far as I could remember, he'd never left to talk on the phone. He might be cryptic about the calls afterwards, but he'd never excluded me before. Alarm bells went off in my head.

My appetite was gone. I pushed the fries around on my plate until Ranger returned almost five minutes later. He picked up his silverware and started eating as if nothing had happened.

"Well?" I asked him, leaning forward.

"Let's get back to Trenton as soon as we're done here," he said, taking a sip of his water.

"Who was that on the phone?"

He looked up and his eyes met mine. It was easy for me to identify his expression, there was none. Ranger had put on his blank face. This was bad.

I raised my eyebrows to silently repeat my question. Ranger exhaled slowly. "Let's finish up here," he finally said.

I pushed back from the table. "I'm done."

He took out his wallet and threw some bills on the table, tossing his napkin onto his half full plate. "Okay," he just said and got up.

I had to force myself to stand up, my legs felt like lead. A tight ball of fear had formed in my stomach; Ranger was scaring me with what he wasn't telling me. The fact that he was stalling for time convinced me it was bad news, news I probably didn't want to hear. Almost in a trance, I stalked out of the restaurant and to the car.

When Ranger turned the key to start the engine, I put my hand on his. "Who called?" I repeated, keeping my voice even with some effort.

"Morelli," he said so softly, I wasn't sure I heard him right.

"What?" I asked, willing him to say another name. Morelli calling Ranger and not me didn't make any sense. There was only one scenario I could think of, and it was the worst. "Who?"

Ranger took my hand in his and turned to face me. "Morelli. He's gonna meet us at RangeMan."

Tears suddenly pricked my eyes and the heat I'd felt earlier turned to ice. I was unable to move, fear had paralyzed me. "To tell us what?" I asked hoarsely.

Ranger moved my hand into my lap and started the engine. He shook his head almost imperceptibly. "Too early to tell."

Now my fear turned to anger. "Tell me!"

He threaded the Porsche into traffic. "No. We'll have to compare notes to make sure we know what we're looking at. I'm not passing along what I'm not sure of."

My instinct was to just get out of the car, to refuse to stay, but by know we were heading down Chestnut Street towards the Expressway.

"Babe," Ranger said, his voice calm. "Trust me."

"No Ranger," I said, barely managing not to scream. "You trust me. Trust me not to freak out, trust me to be able to handle it."

He cut his eyes to me. "You're right. We'll be there in less than an hour."

I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him, but he'd slipped into his zone and nothing short of me jumping out of the car would get him out of that. The thing was, I did trust him. I knew he was doing what was right, and if I could change the situation in any way, he would have let me know. If the worst had happened, they'd found Dad dead, he would have told me. But still, this protection shit was getting old.

We didn't talk until we pulled into RangeMan's garage about an hour later, and then Ranger only asked if I was okay and I huffed a 'Fine!' at him. I would have to have a talk with him, but not before I found out what this was all about.

Morelli's truck was parked in one of the visitors' spots, but I didn't realize he was still sitting in it until the door opened and he got out.

"What's this about Joe?" I asked him before he got a chance to even close his car door. "What are you doing here? Did you see something on the tape?"  
Morelli glanced at Ranger, and I couldn't see what Ranger was communicating because he was behind me. Immediately, Joe's expression changed to cop face. He put an arm around my shoulders. "Let's talk upstairs," he said, kissing my temple.

I shrugged his arm off and, for a moment, I contemplated to balk, plant my feet on the ground and refuse to move until they told me. But it seemed too childish so I just got on the elevator with both men. I would have loved to slap them silly though, and I held on to that thought until we arrived on the 5th floor.

It felt like I was holding my breath until we were in Ranger's office, the door falling shut behind us.

I looked from Ranger to Morelli. "If you're not gonna tell me what's going on in the next five seconds, I'm gonna scream," I said.

Ranger looked like he was going to smile at that, but then his eyes met mine and I knew he'd seen how serious I was.

"Cupcake, I don't really know what's going on," Joe said, taking my hand and leading me to one of the couches in the corner of Ranger's office.

I looked from him to Ranger. "Then tell me what you told Ranger," I said.

Morelli let out a long breath and lowered his head. "We found your dad's cab."

I was just about to sit down, now I jumped back up. "What? Where?" My heart sped up as I left the obvious question unasked. 'Was he in it?'

As if reading my mind, Ranger said, "They don't know who was in it."

"Let's all sit down," Morelli suggested and tried to take my elbow.

I pulled my arm free. "No. Tell me what you know. Now. I sit down when I want to." They had me close to freaking out now, with the way they were shooting each other looks, as if silently deciding what to tell me.

Ranger took a step back, giving me room. "A car was pulled out of the river a couple hours ago," he said, watching me closely. "There was a body in the driver's seat, but he hasn't been identified."

Oh God! "Was it Dad?" I asked Morelli. I knew Ranger had given me the official version, I wanted the truth.

"That's all we know," Morelli said.

"Then why are we here?" I asked. "Let's go to the morgue, or wherever they took him, you can get us in, right? Can we see him?" I knew I didn't want to see a dead body, any dead body, especially not if there was a chance it was Dad, but not knowing was even worse.

Morelli shook his head. "Cupcake…"

I narrowed my eyes. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Babe," Ranger started.

I'd heard enough and I'd run out of patience. "If you can't tell me, I'll find someone who will!"

I brushed past Morelli, but Ranger stepped between me and the door. "We'll know as soon as they do," he said. "We have to wait."

"Fuck that," I spat, trying to sidestep him. He took both of my arms and held me.

"We wait," he repeated, completely calm. At least he'd stopped eye-talking with Morelli.

I took a deep breath. "And how long do you suggest we wait?" I was struggling to get out of Ranger's grip. "An hour? A day??"

"Couple hours," Joe said from behind me. "I'm going downtown to speed things up."

"I'll go with you," I said immediately. "I want to be there."

"Steph, it's not my case," Joe said. Ranger was still blocking my way. He dropped his hands, crossing his arms over his chest, watching me.

Okay, I thought, I had two choices. Bitch and scream, appear out of control, or play along. If I freaked out, they might decide to keep me out of the loop in the future. The problem was I was way too reeled up to play along.

The other problem was, if I tried to just run off, I'd never get past Ranger. He wouldn't hurt me, but he wouldn't have to, he could detain me if he wanted to. Shit. I needed some time to think.

"I have to go to the bathroom," I said. It was the only place I could think of they'd let me go to alone.

Ranger stepped out of my way and opened the door for me. "You'll call me as soon as you hear anything?" I asked Morelli.

Morelli eyed me suspiciously, not believing my mood change. "Of course," he said slowly.

"And next time, don't try to hide shit like this from me." I said and turned to leave.

I walked through the control room feeling all eyes on me. I didn't even look up to see who was at the computers, my head was practically spinning. Probably both Ranger and Morelli expected me to dash for the elevators, but I wasn't that stupid. I knew they'd catch up to me before I could make it out of the control room. And I also knew they didn't believe my sudden change of heart, I had to come up with a good reason to get out of here.

"Think Stephanie," I told myself out loud when I was in the ladies' room and splashed cold water on my face.

Probably Morelli would make his exit while he could without me latching on to him. That was okay, I knew where he was going. I spent my whole life in Trenton, and I'd been a bounty hunter for long enough to know all the municipal buildings.

But to get anywhere, I had to either convince Ranger to let me go or come with me, or sneak past him and the Merry Men.

I'd slung my purse over my shoulder when I got out of the car, and because I hadn't sat down anywhere, I still had it with me. And that meant I had my phone. I also had handcuffs and my stun gun, but they wouldn't do me any good in this situation.

What was I doing, anyway? Was I trying to run away? Why? Joe'd promised to call if he found out something, and I knew he would.

I slumped against the sink counter, gnawing my lip. Okay, I realized, I was angry. Angry at Ranger for not telling me right away, and angry at Joe for not taking me along. So a part of me wanted to lose the men and try my luck on my own. It wasn't like I was in danger; I didn't need any protection, right? And if I needed help, I could call them. I still had the list Ranger gave me.

Of course, if I left now, I'd miss the meeting and maybe some vital information that Silvio had dug up. And unlike Ranger, I didn't have a map of the tri-state area in my head; I'd have to look up the addresses that went with the names. I sighed and dumped my purse on the counter, taking out my small make-up bag. While I was applying an extra coat of mascara and some lip-gloss, I tried to think.

Ten minutes later, when I came out of the ladies' room, Ranger was waiting for me three steps away from the washrooms in the control room. Morelli was nowhere to be seen.

"Would you like me to wear a leash and collar so you'd have full control over me at all times?" I asked him. He didn't deserve that, but I was still angry.

"Babe," he said.

"I'm a big girl, Ranger. I can take it. I'm not gonna sneak out of the bathroom into danger. Don't try to protect me from the big, mean world, okay?" My voice was dripping with sarcasm. Ranger almost nodded. "No more protection, 10-4."

I glared at him and he smiled, hooking an arm around my neck. "But tell me more about this leash and collar idea of yours."

This time I rolled my eyes, but my anger was starting to evaporate. Ranger always had this effect on me. "So now what?" I asked to change the subject.

"Silvio is going to brief us in five minutes," Ranger said. "Morelli will call as soon as he knows anything." He tossed the file he was holding onto the nearest desk and came over to me. "We wait."

I blew out some air. Waiting was just about my least favorite activity. I always felt like I was missing something or could be making progress elsewhere when I just waited. But I hadn't been able to come up with another idea either.

I helped myself to some water and joined Ranger, Silvio, Junior and Lester in the conference room. Ranger sat at the head of the large conference table, Silvio sat next to him. He had printed out a bunch of reports and was putting them in order, not looking up when I took my seat.

"The list had eight ex-soldiers on it," Silvio began. "Two are dead. Six are MIA."

I sat up straight. "All missing?"

"Including you father, that makes eight," Silvio said. "You checked three yourself. I talked to two wives who'd reported their husbands missing. We went out to the one we couldn't get in contact with remotely, and his house is deserted, neighbors haven't seen him in two days."

"Like McCarthy," I said and looked at Ranger. "But what does this mean?"

"Any orders?" Ranger asked Silvio.

"None up to level four," Silvio said. He turned to me. "I went up the chain of command to see if it was maybe a mission, but if it was, I would have found an order."

"Dig deeper," Ranger said. "And we need a team assigned on each member. Steph and I are on McCarthy. Santos, you and Brown are on Dunnaback."

I did the math in my head. "Ranger, that's ten men! You don't…" Ranger held up a hand as his eyes met mine and I stopped. I didn't know any ESP, but I got the feeling he wanted to discuss this in private.

"Assign the men available," he said to Silvio. "We start at 0700."

Everybody took that as their cue that the meeting was over and got up. Lester smiled at me. "We'll find him, Steph," he said, putting his arm around my shoulders and squeezing me lightly.

I looked that my phone in front of me on the table, willing Morelli to call with the news that the dead man wasn't Dad. "I hope so."

Ranger stayed behind with me. "You okay to ride shotgun another day?" he asked.

"Ranger, I appreciate your help, but what about your men? You don't have the resources to…"

Again, he held up his hand. "Don't worry about my resources, Babe." The smile that accompanied his statement made me think he wasn't talking about the Merry Men any more.

"You think we can find my dad by finding the other men from his unit?" I asked.

"If he hasn't already been found, yes."

I knew he was alluding to the corpse in the car and a shiver went through me. I pocketed my phone and stood up. "Then I'm ready."

Ranger was about to say something when my phone rang. I pushed the talk button without looking at the display.

"It's me," Morelli said. "I'm at the morgue. You'd better sit down."

TBC

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A/N: What do you think?? Is it the bad news Steph feared?? Who did they find?? And should Steph tell the alpha machos where to go and how to get there or play along?? I appreciate any and all suggestions!


	5. Chapter 5

Yes, yes, I know I said I would try to speed things up, but unfortunately, there was no talking my muse into it. The bitch just wouldn't cooperate. So once again, I'm sorry it took me so long. But I really hope you like it and let me know, because I'm still a review whore...

Thanks to Stayce whose brain, unlike mine, functions, I'm able to update at all. I owe you once again, Girlfriend!

Thank you all so very much for your reviews and feedback, if I didn't get a chance to thank you individually, I really appreciated each and every one of them.

Disclaimer: All characters are JE's, except for the ones I made up, but no one would want them.

These Days

Chapter 5

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"It's me," Morelli said. "I'm at the morgue. It's not Frank."

My heart skipped a beat and I collapsed back into the chair as my legs buckled under me. My throat closed and my stomach did a somersault, for a moment I thought I was going to throw up. I had a hard time breathing as black stars danced across my vision and bells clanged in my head.

"It's hard to tell, and they don't have a positive ID yet." There was a slight pause and I could picture Morelli running a hand through his hair, searching for the right words. "But I got a look at the guy and it's not your dad. I'm positive."

I sat stunned for a full minute while my brain was trying to process the information. "It's not him?" I finally asked, I needed to hear it again. Joe'd known my dad as long as I had; he _knew_ what he looked like.

"It's not him," Joe said softly.

I didn't realize just how tensed I'd been. When it finally got through that Dad was not dead, I started crying. The phone slipped out of my hand as I sobbed. It didn't make sense, it was good news, I should have been happy, but I was just too overwhelmed, I had to let it all out.

Ranger picked up my phone and disconnected, then he gathered me up in his arms.

"It's okay," he whispered, running his hand over my hair and holding me to his chest.

We stood like that for a long time; it felt like hours, but it may have been only minutes, until finally my sobs died down to sniffles. I pulled back a little to look at Ranger.

"It's not him," I said. "The body. It's not Dad."

Ranger nodded. "That's good news."

"I know," I said, fishing a tissue out of my pocket. I took a deep breath and sent Ranger a weak smile.

"I think you need some rest," Ranger said, putting his hand on the small of my back and nudging me out of the conference room. "It's late and we start early tomorrow. I'll take you to Morelli's."

I shook my head. "No. I need to be alone. I just want to go home."

Funny how, a couple hours ago, I'd thought the last thing I wanted was to be alone. But right now, I couldn't imagine I'd be good company for anyone. My stomach grumbled loudly and Ranger chuckled. I realized I hadn't eaten anything for most of the day.

"Stop at the drive-thru on the way?" Ranger suggested.

"I'll order a pizza," I told him and picked up my shoulder bag. "My car is still in the garage, I'll drive myself. I just want to go home now."

Now that I knew it wasn't my dad in the cab, I remembered I was still angry with the two men in my life for trying to 'protect' me. Control me, is more like it. They were helping me, yes, and I was grateful for that, but that was no reason to let them get away with it.

Ranger looked like he was going to comment. "I'm fine, really," I said. "I'll see you at 7 tomorrow." And before he could try to stop me, I walked out of the conference room and pushed the elevator button.

I only made one stop, at my parents' house, to tell Mom about the cab. Now that I was sure it wasn't Dad they'd found behind the wheel, I could tell her all about it. She took it rather well, but I was wondering how much longer she could take it. This was the longest she'd ever been separated from my dad probably since he was in the Army. I didn't think I could handle it if Mom cracked, I wouldn't know what to do. Mom was supposed to be the family's anchor, if she lost hold, we'd all drift. I was sure of it.

Val had temporarily moved in with Mom and Grandma Mazur, while Albert stayed home with the kids. Even if I pretended it was because I was busy searching for Dad, I couldn't fool myself: I was glad it was Val and not me. I may have had a nervous breakdown if I'd had to be around my mom and my grandmother while looking for a needle in a haystack. I love them, but they drive me crazy if I spend too much time with them.

The first thing I did when I got home was greet Rex and give him fresh water and hamster nuggets, the second thing was call Pino's for delivery and then I kicked off my sneakers and let myself fall onto my bed. Lying there, spread eagled, I let out a sigh and closed my eyes for a minute.

This day was finally over, halleluiah! Okay, so Dad wasn't safe at home yet, but I'd found both his cars. At least I could scratch those off the list.

The missing men still had me worried though. What did it mean? Was there a conspiracy against my dad's unit? Was it a coincidence? I doubted that Ranger would assign ten of his men if he thought there were four random middle-aged men going on vacation at the same time. There had to be more. But what? And how could we go about finding it out when there was no trace to follow.

Ranger said early on it was the chain of command he was interested in, and that's what Silvio was following, as far as I knew. Then why wasn't anything coming up? Silvio was good, one of the best hackers 'not behind bars', as Ranger had put it, if he couldn't find anything, who could?

And what was there to be found?

I groaned in frustration and banged my fist on the mattress. Of course this was exactly what I'd tried to avoid earlier, I didn't want to be alone in case my thoughts were driving me insane.

I had to find a way to calm down and think. Over the past few years, I'd caught a lot of FTAs that no one thought I had a chance at. Now, because the missing person was my dad, I was too emotionally involved to look at the facts.

The doorbell rang and I started. Then I remembered. Food. Yes, that's what I needed to think clearly, food! I rushed to answer the door, paid the delivery boy and brought the pizza over to the dining table. On the way to the fridge to get a beer, I noticed my answering machine blinking furiously. And probably I had a few messages on my cell phone by now too. They all had to wait a few more minutes, I decided, and took my beer back to the table and dug in.

Joe called just as I finished my beer and was starting to mellow out. "Still no ID on the guy. I only know he doesn't look familiar, but I left before they had a match for his finger prints." That was good news, right? Well, not for the dead guy, but for my dad and his buddies. Surely their finger prints would have come up by now.

"I just got home. You're not here," Joe said, changing the subject.

"I'm in my apartment, " I told him. There was a pause in which I imagined Morelli searching for the right thing to say.

"I miss you," he finally said.

"I'll see you tomorrow," I said and hung up. If I'd stayed on the phone I would have asked him to come over, and then I would never be able to remember I was mad at him for keeping information from me.

I felt too exhausted to even watch TV after I finished all my calls. It had been an emotionally draining day. So I just got a pen and paper ready for the morning, when I planned to really write everything down, do my own part instead of just relying on Ranger's men to dig up the facts.

While putting the empty box and bottles away, I passed my answering machine again. Shit. I had to listen to the messages sooner or later, I figured, better get it over with.

Two messages from Mom, no surprise there. I had no problem deleting them since I'd seen her earlier. Morelli had also left two messages, just telling me to call him. That was taken care of, too. That just left one message.

"Stephanie Plum," the caller said. He had a deep, slightly raspy voice. For some reason, a lump formed in my throat and I had to swallow to be able to breathe.

"If you want to see your father alive again, mind your own business and stop looking for him."

Who was this guy? And what was the noise in the background, it was almost as loud as his voice, really distracting.

"Consider this your first, last and only warning."

I had to roll my eyes at the last remark, but the message had really unnerved me. What the fuck? Not that I'd expected good news, but this one took the cake. I saved the message and was happy my machine announced I had no more new messages. I didn't think I could have taken any more of that kind!

I looked over at Rex in his aquarium. He'd stopped running on his wheel and was looking at me, his whiskers whirring.  
"I'm okay," I told him. "Just another crazy caller."

Rex was satisfied with that fib and went back to his running routine, but it didn't work for me. Was this guy serious? Had he kidnapped my father? What should I do? And who the hell was he? And just _what_ was that noise?

I grabbed another beer, my exhaustion forgotten. There was no way I could go to sleep now. But what should I do? I paced the kitchen, trying to think.

It was too late to call somebody, it wasn't really an emergency and I didn't want to alarm anyone. Besides, there was nothing they could have done. So I continued pacing. My phone wasn't monitored, so there was no way to find out who'd called. And I wasn't in any danger. I didn't need any protection.

I finally decided to let Ranger know when I saw him in the morning and went to bed, hoping a good night's sleep would make me feel better.

When I finally fell asleep, I had weird dreams. But all I remembered when I woke up, almost as exhausted as the night before, was that my dad had been trying to tell me something.

It was barely dawn when I woke up. I got coffee started and took a long shower to chase away some leftover exhaustion. I was sitting at my dining table, drinking my coffee, frowning over my notes and trying to make sense to them, when I heard the front door locks tumble.

My first thought was the caller from the night before was following up on his promise, so I practically flew to the kitchen and grabbed my gun out of my cookie jar. It wasn't loaded, but the guy had no way of knowing that, maybe I could scare him.

Ranger raised an eyebrow when he spotted me, my gun trained at the door. "Nice stance, Babe."

I grimaced and lowered my gun. "Why didn't you knock? I almost shot you!"

"Not with the safety on," Ranger said and gave me his full on smile.

I looked at my gun. The safety was still on. "You couldn't know that!" Could he?

He gently took the gun out of my hand and placed it on the counter, then he took my face in both of his hands. "I know _you_." And he brushed his lips over mine. "What happened?"

I went over to the kitchen counter and pressed the play button on my answering machine. Ranger crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the counter as he listened to the message. His expression was unreadable.

"He called at 8 PM. When did you get it?"

"About midnight last night," I said. "After I got home."

He nodded. "Did you recognize the voice?"

I knew the guy hadn't sounded familiar the night before but now I thought about it for a moment, recalling his voice and trying to place it. I got nothing. "No, I don't think I've ever heard it before." I didn't know how to tell Ranger about the noise that still was bugging me.

"Is there something you're not telling me?" He nodded at the gun on the counter. "Something that would prompt this?"

"He sounds serious," I said. "I'm pretty sure he meant what he said."

Ranger looked at me and our eyes locked. I didn't have to tell him the caller had me freaked, he just saw my gun and understood it.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him after a moment, mainly to change the subject. The look in his eyes had me ready to forget all about yesterday, forgive him and ask him to protect me from the big bad wolf. I shook my head to clear it.

He pointed at his watch. "0700," he said. "You're the other half of my team."

Mental head slap. I'd honestly forgotten all about the task force Ranger had built the day before, the teams of two that were supposed to go from house to house, find out as much about everyone in Dad's unit as possible. Ranger and I were assigned to find everything the report didn't tell us about McCarthy.

The reason I hadn't thought about it because last night, before the call, I'd been all gung-ho about investigating it on my own, find out everything there is to find out and then prove to the men in my life that I didn't need either of them to find my dad. And just one phone call, and I was back to square one. Ranger shows up and I forget all about my own investigation. I'd have to work on that.

"Give me five minutes," I said, waving my hand at the coffee pot. "The coffee is fresh."

What a dorky thing to say, I thought as I fled into the bathroom to finish getting dressed. I'd only thrown on shorts and a t-shirt since I'd planned on staying at home until I found something worth investigating. Hair and make-up wasn't needed for that.

A half hour later, my hair was tamed into a pony tail and I was wearing my usual uniform of jeans and a t-shirt. Ranger was rinsing his coffee cup when I joined him in the kitchen.

"Ready," I announced and grabbed my shoulder bag off the counter.

Ranger handed me a file folder when we were in his car. Unlike the list from the day before, this file contained everything Silvio had been able to find out about McCarthy. There were several pages.

"Did you read this?" I asked Ranger. "Can you give me a summary?"

Ranger smiled as he started the car. "No shortcuts, Babe."

I just gave him a blank stare and he almost smiled at me. "Okay," he said, holding up his hands as if surrendering.

"Your dad and McCarthy were drafted the same week, they started boot camp together," he said, maneuvering the Cayenne out of my parking lot as he spoke.

I was happy Ranger was doing the driving. For one, his car was a lot nicer than mine. But Ranger's parking karma was also a lot better than mine, he always got a good spot. So I wouldn't have to worry about that. And, okay, while I wouldn't tell him that, the main reason was that he made me feel safer. I had no desire to find out the caller's identity, especially not while I was alone.

"We have no record of them continuing their relationship after the Army," Ranger continued. "But they were together for four years, my guess is they were pretty close."

I let the folder drop into my lap. "You took McCarthy because he was closest to Dad?"

"You wanted a summary," Ranger said. "I thought maybe you'd recognized him from the pictures." And then he focused on the road, leaving me to read up on McCarthy.

I went through the information, skimming the history of a guy I'd never heard of before yesterday. There were six pictures in all, showing McCarthy from his 20's to his 50's, but he didn't look familiar in any of them. How was it that he and my dad were so close and I'd never even heard of him?

I was still reading the report when my cell phone rang and I recognized Morelli's number on the display. "Hi Joe."

"They have a positive ID on the guy in the cab," Morelli said without preamble.

I sat up straight. "Who is it?"

"The guy's name is Brian Dickson," Joe said. "He's …"  
"One of Dad's Army buddies," I finished for him as my heart sped up and a lump formed in my throat.

I'd been so relieved the dead guy wasn't Dad, I hadn't thought any further. It was _his_ cab and now one of _his_ friends was found dead in it.

I could feel Ranger's eyes on me as he pulled over and parked at the curb on Hamilton.

"Cupcake?"

"I'm here," I replied a little hoarsely. I didn't know what to do with this information, couldn't decide if it was bad news or really, really bad news.

"You okay?" Morelli wanted to know. "Where are you? I can come pick you up?"

Now my guilty conscience piped up. I hadn't told Morelli I'd be spending the day with Ranger.

I cleared my throat. "Sorry, I'm okay. I went to Dickson's house yesterday looking for him, I guess that was just a little too close to home."

"You didn't break into his house, did you?" Morelli asked.

"No," I said. "Of course not. But I met his wife. She's very nice."

"I just didn't want them to find your prints at a possible crime scene," Morelli said.

"Don't worry about me," I said and flipped the phone shut. I can't explain why, somehow his comment had annoyed me, although I guess he'd only been concerned for me. I don't always think and act straight when I'm confused. We'd have to have a talk, just like I had to have a talk with Ranger, but right now was not the time for it. They had to know they couldn't treat me like a kid that had to be protected from all evil, but I knew I didn't have the energy to talk to either of them at the time.

Nothing was making sense anymore. Dickson was one of Dad's friends, he had a wife, and now he was dead. Dad was missing, and he had a wife and family. Would he be the next body found?

What if there was a hit list and Dad was on it? What if some psycho had kidnapped the entire unit and was killing them off one by one? I didn't have a single lead as to who that someone could be, other than a stranger's voice and a short phone call.

"Brian Dickson?" Ranger asked after I'd been able to take a couple deep breaths. I nodded.

He took his cell phone off his belt and called RangeMan, cancelling the team that was out researching Dickson.

"This isn't working," I said, more to myself than to Ranger, but he turned to face me.

"Not working how?"  
"We're going at it from the wrong angle," I said. "We're trying to look into the victims' lives when we should be looking for the kidnapper's identity."

"We don't know if we're dealing with kidnappings," Ranger said.

I turned to him, incredulous. "We don't' know? A bunch of guys disappearing without saying goodbye or leaving a trace? What would you call it?" I was gesturing wildly, not really thinking about what I was saying, just venting my confusion. "You think Brian Dickson stole my dad's cab to commit suicide?" I didn't like the touch of hysteria in my voice, but I couldn't help it.

Ranger had turned of the engine and was reaching for my hand. I jerked it away and grabbed the door handle.

"This isn't working," I said again as I got out of the car.

We were parked a few blocks away from the Bonds office, in an area I knew well. The familiarity should have calmed me, but instead, it made it worse. Here I was, knowing each street corner like the back of my hand, unable to find my own father. I hated feeling so helpless. I knew Morelli and Ranger were trying to help, but there was nothing they could really do, we were always at least one step behind, and we didn't even know who or what we were behind!

I watched traffic going by on Hamilton, trying to calm down, trying to fight the panic about my dad that was threatening to overwhelm me.

"Then we'll find another way," Ranger said calmly. I hadn't even noticed he'd gotten out of the car, so I jumped at the sound of his voice from right behind me.

His cell phone chirped and he took the call. He listened for a few seconds then hung up without saying a word.

"I gotta go," he said to me, taking me by the elbow. "I'll drop you off at your apartment."

I heard the words but didn't process them, just as I watched him open the car door for me and took my seat. There was something. Like looking through binoculars and knowing you just have to adjust that little wheel a little bit more until you can see everything clearly, that background noise from the man's phone call was there.

TBC

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A/N: Do you think that Steph is overreacting to the guys trying to protect her? Think she'll tell Ranger or Joe what she heard in the phone call? Think she'll sit home with her hands in her lap, or do you see her getting into trouble? Let me know what you think she heard….


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: All characters are JE's, except for the ones I made up, but no one would want them

Thank you to everyone who took the time to review, you guys are awesome! I hope you enjoyed the story.

A special Thank You to Stayce and Melody for their help and encouragement!

This is the last chapter and I hope to be tying up any loose ends, please let me know your thoughts on the matter!

Disclaimer: All characters are JE's, except for the ones I made up, but no one would want them

* * *

These Days

Chapter 6

When I was a kid, I watched this weird black and white movie on TV, it was all about voodoo and zombies and such. There was this woman in it who was slowly being turned into a zombie or something. In any case, she was alive, but she had that vacant look in her eyes and her movements were controlled by the voodoo master.

That's how I felt at that moment. It was as if reality couldn't quite make it through the fog of my mind. Later, I remembered what Ranger had said and that he was driving me home, but at that moment, I was sort of gone mentally.

Maybe it was a delayed reaction to the past 24 hours, I don't know. I'm not even sure it was triggered by Morelli's call and the identity of the dead man; it was more the sum of it all.

But more likely it was because three quarters of my mind was trying to figure out what that noise had been on the message the night before. I already knew I didn't recognize the caller's voice, but I had recognized what was in the background, I just couldn't put my finger on it. It never occurred to me then that I hadn't pointed the noise out to Ranger.

When Ranger parked in the back of my building, I sort of woke up like I'd been in a trance.

"What are we doing here?" I asked before my brain had a chance to play catch-up.

Ranger didn't reply, he turned off the engine and turned to me, his expression serious.

"Are you feeling okay?" he wanted to know.

Right, I thought, the phone call. "Who was that on the phone?" I asked Ranger.

"Business," he said. "We'll have to do McCarthy later."

I looked at him and our eyes held. "Business not related to my dad?"

Ranger exhaled slowly, his version of a deep sigh. "Babe."

"That's not an answer, Ranger."

He got out of the car and walked around to open my door. "There's been trouble at one of our major accounts," he said when I stood next to him. "Tank is over there now and he thinks I need to be there. And then I have a meeting with an Army contact."

I got out of the car and Ranger took me by the elbow. "What Army contact? This is about my dad, isn't it?"

"I hope it is. This guy is connected and he may know something the records don't show."

"Then let's go together," I suggested. "If I'm there, looking distraught and sad, he may spill what he knows."

We crossed the parking lot, Ranger still holding on to my elbow, and it was sort of comforting.

"He's not that kind of guy," Ranger just said and I could tell from his tone of voice that he considered the topic closed. "I'll be back as soon as possible, then we can follow up on McCarty."

"I don't want to follow up on McCarthy anymore," I said, our earlier conversation coming back to me. "We should be looking for the caller, not the kidnappees."

Ranger raised an eyebrow and looked like he was thinking about smiling at my choice of words but he must have read something in my eyes that made him reconsider. "Okay. If you come up with something better, we'll do that. I'll see you upstairs."

We had reached the back door of my apartment building and I wrenched it open. "That's okay. I'll be careful, I even have my gun."

Before I could pull the glass door closed behind me, Ranger stepped into the lobby. "It wasn't a suggestion," he said and started climbing the stairs to my apartment.

I rolled my eyes; I hated when he got all macho like that, and pressed the button for the elevator. He said he wanted to check out my apartment, he didn't say anything about following him there.

When I joined up again with him in front of my apartment he was giving me his almost smile, and he looked like I was amusing him. "I thought you were behind me," he said, probably for old time's sake.

"I was," I said, grinning back. "Way behind."

He chuckled as he unlocked my front door and checked out each room. I waited in the foyer, just in case. If there was anything to discover, I didn't want to be the one to do it.

Less than two minutes later, Ranger had concluded his check. "All clear," he said, joining me in the foyer. I swallowed my 'Told ya' as I dumped my pocket book on the floor and took off for the kitchen.

"I gotta go," Ranger said behind me, and I thought I sensed some hesitation in his voice. "You're gonna wait here for me right?"

"Right," I confirmed. "I have my notes to finish," I said, waving at the dining table where I'd left my notepad and pen.

I had no intention of sitting on my hands while Ranger 'couldn't protect me', or how ever he would put it, but he didn't need to know that. He'd call a Merry Man to keep me company while he couldn't and as much as I liked his men, they would slow me down. Not to mention, the shortest Merry Men is 5'11" or something, they just don't blend in.

Ranger looked at me, and I could tell he was trying to decide whether to believe me or not. I appreciated his help, but right now I needed to find the fastest way to find my dad, and it couldn't wait.

"Call me if you find anything before I get back," Ranger said as he pulled me to him.

He kissed me lightly on the lips and splayed his hand on my back. "I won't be long."

"Okay," I said.

I couldn't say any more, I already felt like I was lying to him, and I hated lying to Ranger.

When he had left, I went to the kitchen and nuked a cup of coffee. It was really nagging me now, I _knew_ that background noise I'd heard, I just couldn't put my finger on it.

I stood in the kitchen sipping my coffee, filled Rex's water dish and gave him some Cheerios. Then I rewound the message on my answering machine and closed my eyes as I listened.

It was subtle; Ranger had probably dismissed it as regular traffic noise, not worth mentioning. But I knew it wasn't.

And then it hit me. It hit me so hard; I almost dropped my coffee mug. I knew exactly where I'd heard that engine noise before, it wasn't just traffic.

It was a lot of car engines starting at the same time, leaving from one place. And, almost too subtle to notice, a big iron gate opening, rattling as it ran on its tracks. To me, that only meant one thing: The end of a shift at the button factory, the only factory in Trenton with such an old fashioned gate.

Of course, if the caller wasn't in Trenton, I supposed it could have been any old iron gate anywhere, but I didn't think so. There was something too familiar about the cacophony of noises; I knew I'd heard it many times before. And that's why it had been nagging; Ranger probably hadn't even heard it.

I had a lead! I grabbed my pocketbook and yelled goodbye to Rex over my shoulder, I had no time to waste. The first shift was in full swing now; the parking lot would be full. What better time to check if everyone belonged there?

On the way over to the button factory, I called my mom to make sure everything was okay. Grandma Mazur told me that she didn't think we'd find Dad alive. That was a nice positive thought, I wanted to strangle her! Val had convinced Mom to take a Valium and take a nap, so I couldn't talk to her directly. I told Grandma to let them both know I was working on it and I'd call with any updates, and that Dad was most definitely not dead.

In the middle of the night, it takes about ten minutes from my house to the factory. Now, nearing noon, I made it in thirty minutes. I parked at the curb across the street from the gate and looked at it, hoping for inspiration to strike, or a clue to fall out of thin air.

The entire factory was housed in a mammoth three-story red brick building. If you looked at it through a black and white lens, you'd swear you were looking at a picture of a sweat shop from the old days. The only happy thought ever had in that place was 'It's quittin' time soon', I'm sure.

Not that it had anything to do with why I was here; it's just the first thing that comes to mind whenever I see the factory. I even tried to get a job there once, I lasted less than an hour because I showed up late on my first day.

And again I was digressing, playing my own version of 'anywhere but here' in my mind. I shook my head to clear it. I had to focus! See, detect, find, or preferably all of the above.

What did the button factory have to do with anything? Was it a coincidence the caller was here when he left the message?

It was important to me to find out if this really was a clue before I told Joe or Ranger about it. I wanted to prove something to them, although I wasn't so sure what. My independence, maybe? My abilities? In any case, I told myself, I wasn't in any danger sitting at the curb, and they didn't need to know my every move.

Okay, so I was still pissed about the withholding crucial information bit, the way they had both presumed to know what was best for me. I hate that. Although I guess I could have just flat out told them that instead of going out on my own. But I promised myself I'd call Morelli or Ranger as soon as I had a lead. If I was wrong about this, or if there was nothing to it, they wouldn't even have to find out.

So there I was, on a Monday morning, across the street from the button factory. All around me, the neighborhood was quiet. Workers had gone to their offices or factories or whatever, housewives were busy cleaning, and kids were at school. If you wanted to commit a crime and not get caught, a blue-collar neighborhood on a weekday morning was the place to go.

Unfortunately, the shift had already started and I was afraid I'd have to wait for a shift change to hear the big gate open. There was a visitor's parking lot that was accessible from the street, but it was separated from the employees' lot and not gated.

My cell phone rang in my pocket book. Ranger or Morelli, no doubt. They would want to know where I was and what I was doing, and I couldn't lie to them. On the other hand, if I didn't answer, they would worry and maybe alarm my family.

Sighing, I rummaged through my purse until I found the phone and hit the answer button. "Hello?"

"Are you at home?" Morelli wanted to know.

I bit my lip. "No."

"Is everything okay?"

I blew out some air. Morelli knew me too well; I didn't even have to lie for him to know something wasn't right. But then I had a thought. What did I have to hide? Why did I feel like a kid getting caught, I had done nothing wrong and I didn't have to justify my choices to anyone. Well, maybe to my mom, but that's different.

"Yup, everything's a-okay," I said. "I'm out following a lead."

"What kind of lead?" Morelli asked.

"I'll tell you when it proves to be a good one," I said and I could feel Morelli smile at that on the other end.

"You need any help?"

"Not yet," I said. This was also true. "But keep your phone on."  
"Always," Joe said.

"Did you get any updates? Anything new?"  
"No fingerprints on the car other than your dad's. Cause of death was a single shot to the nape of the neck, execution style."

I swallowed hard. As often as I heard how people had been murdered, I'd never get used to it. Even if I didn't know Brian Dickson, I felt sorry for him, especially for his poor wife.

"But no suspects?" I asked.

"We might find the gun," Joe said, but I could tell he wasn't holding his breath for that one. I thanked him and we disconnected.

Go figure, I thought, I find my backbone, tell the truth and don't feel guilty about it, and Morelli was fine with it.

Nine-thirty. I shifted in my seat. The first shift wouldn't be over until…hm…I realized I didn't actually know the shift times at the button factory. The caller had left his message around eight, according to my answering machine. Was the clock on the machine even accurate? I couldn't remember the last time I'd actually checked. Mental head slap. I'd been so gung-ho about going out on my own that I hadn't cared too much about details.

The button factory had been around since before my parents were born, but all I knew about it was that I didn't want to work in it and that they ran round the clock shifts. A quick phone call to Mary Lou, and I learned that the shifts were 7 to 3, 3 to11 and 11 to 7. I decided to ignore my machine's clock and that there was no way I was going to wait for a three o'clock shift change.

Instead, I left the car, crossed the street, and walked across the visitor's lot to the employee lot. I had an idea that was a long shot, but I really didn't have anything better to do unless I wanted to declare the whole morning a waste of time.

It took me over an hour, but eventually I had the license plate numbers of all the cars in the parking lot. With that list, I drove over to the DMV to see my friend Loretta.

I had to wait in line for an hour, and when I pulled out my list, Loretta's eyes bulged out so far, I thought they were going to fall out.

"Are you nuts? The people behind you are gonna kill us both if I run all of these!" she said.

"It's really, really important," I said, leaning forward so Loretta could hear my stage whisper. "Just pretend the computer is acting up or something."

"You'll owe me big time for this," she said, picking up my list that I had put on a form so it looked official. "But if my manager gets suspicious…"

I held up my hand. "I understand. Just as far as you can get. I only need the names the cars are registered to."

"Oh, that's all?" Loretta said sarcastically and started typing. "That'll be a while," she said loud enough to be heard by everyone in line behind me. "_If_ you have all the forms."

I didn't mind owing Loretta. She was good people. She'd ask me to cat sit for her while she and her family went to the shore for the weekend or something.

Silvio could have probably run the searches for me as well, but it would take him just as long. And I'd have to go through RangeMan, and that meant ultimately asking Ranger for help. Ditto Morelli. I'd discovered that it was high time I got back to my independent ways again, not to be stubborn, but to do this by myself.

Okay, so most likely, I'd need their help again at some point. But until then, I could pretend to be strong and independent, right?

Twenty minutes into the search, people behind me got impatient. Forty minutes into it, they got really loud. There were about eighty license plate numbers on the list, and Loretta was halfway through when people started complaining loudly. She looked up from her keyboard quickly to shoot me an alarmed look.

I took a deep breath and turned around, facing the angry people behind me. "Listen, I really appreciate your patience," I said, managing to put a distressed expression on my face. "My car was stolen, and my wallet was in it and the guy who stole it got involved in a hit and run," I managed to squeeze out a tear for good measure. "And unless I can sort this out I'll be responsible for all damages and I can't even make my rent this month!"

It seemed to work on a few people, and some others looked down at the floor. At least I'd bought myself a couple of minutes.

Still, when Loretta was done and I'd thanked her, I hauled ass out of the DMV so I didn't have to face anyone in the angry mob. I didn't slow down until I'd slammed my car door shut behind me. Then I took the list and skimmed the names. And halfway down the list, I hit the jackpot. Pennsylvania plate SR 90-80 was registered to Cullen McCarthy!

Sure, it could be a coincidence, but it wasn't that common a name, and my spidey sense was tingling. Maybe I'd had that sixth sense this morning when I felt going to stake out McCarthy's house would be a waste of time? How many Cullen McCarthy's could there be? Now I wished I'd asked Loretta for names _and_ addresses, but that might have been pushing it.

It was past noon now, but I still had plenty of time before the shift change, although that seemed less important now. My theory was that the caller hadn't chosen the button factory because he worked there, maybe he didn't even have a connection to it.

But I needed to make sure I had the right McCarthy, so I dug out my cell phone to call Joe. It started ringing just as I flipped it open. It was Ranger. I took a deep breath and answered.

Deciding the best defense was a good offense, I didn't wait for him to start. "I had to leave to check out a lead."

"I seem to remember you agreeing to wait here," Ranger said. Not sounding pissed, just matter of factly.

"Something came up," I said. Still going with the truth, sort of. "Did you find out anything at your meeting?"

"Yes," Ranger said. "The Army had nothing to do with it. If they did, this guy would have known about it"

And while they may have pushed Dad's cab into the river, they wouldn't have left another missing guy's car at the button factory.

"I think I found McCarthy's car," I said and told Ranger about my morning.

"Meet me at RangeMan," Ranger said. "We'll confirm if it's his."

I was going to have Morelli check it out, but I wasn't even sure he was in his office with computer access, so RangeMan made sense. I drove across Trenton and it took me the better part of an hour in midday traffic.

Ranger was in his office when I got to the 5th floor. I showed him my list and he raised his eyebrow. "You had every single car checked?"

I nodded. "No turn unstoned."

That earned me an almost smile. "Recognize any other names besides McCarthy's?"

"I didn't check past his name," I admitted.

Ranger turned to his computer and started a program. "You remember how to use this search engine?"

I did. We cut the list in half and checked out all the car owners on the list. It turned out to be a waste of time, in a way, McCarthy's was the only car I was interested in, but we still had to check them all to find that out.

I signed off after I'd run the last check and rubbed my burning eyes. My stomach growled, reminding me that I'd skipped breakfast and lunch. I'd forgotten all about food in my excitement, that was a first.

I grabbed a sandwich and a bottle of water from the break room and sat back down at the desk.

"It's our McCarthy," Ranger said from behind me just as I'd taken my first bite. "But the others are clean."  
"Mine are all clean," I said, taking another bite.

"Someone should tell the cops about the abandoned car," Ranger said on a smile. "They might want to check it for prints."

Mental head slap. I could have thought of that myself. I grabbed my purse. "I'm gonna drive over and make sure it's still there."

"There's something else," Ranger said as he fell into step with me on my way to the elevators.

I turned to him with what I hoped was a 'Well?' look on my face.

"The other teams went to check out the rest of your dad's buddies. They're all MIA," Ranger said and pressed the button to call the elevator.

Somehow, it was what I expected. Someone had it out for my Dad's unit. Who and why were the big question marks. But I didn't want to think about the big picture right now, I wanted to focus on the one car we found. It was too easy to panic if I thought about what I didn't know.

Ranger and I arrived at the button factory exactly at three. "That was the background noise," I said as the gat rattled open.

"I just heard the cars," Ranger admitted and I feigned shock.

"Batman missed a clue??" I asked, gasping.

"Very funny," Ranger said and looked like he was about to roll his eyes.

McCarthy's car was still in the lot. I peeked inside, careful not to touch it, but there was nothing in it. Either McCarthy was a neat freak or his car had been cleaned out.

I called Morelli, giving him the short version of where I was and why he should alert a CSI team. "I'll meet you there as soon as I can," he said. "That's some great detecting, Cupcake!"

I decided to take that as a compliment and we disconnected.

While we waited, I walked around McCarthy's car to the back and sniffed. "What are you doing?" Ranger wanted to know.

"Trying to find out if McCarthy's dead in the trunk," I said.

Once you smell a dead body, you'll never forget the stench. I wanted to be prepared for when they opened the trunk.

And then it hit me. What if there was a dead body in the trunk and it wasn't McCarthy? Dickson was found in Dad's cab. There was a chance this car was someone else's coffin. There was a chance…oh God!

Bells started clanging in my head and black dots danced across my blurring vision. I started swaying and sat down hard on the macadam to keep from falling over.

Ranger was suddenly beside me, pushing my head down. "Breathe," he said. "Take some deep breaths."

After a moment, the noise in my ears faded and I could hear the approaching sirens. "I'm okay," I told Ranger.

"Yeah, and your natural skin color is stone gray," Ranger said and started rubbing my back. "What happened?"

I tried to swallow the big lump in my troat. "What if…what if…" I glanced back at the car. "What if there is a body in the car and it isn't McCarthy?"

Two unmarked police cars with their kojak lights in the windshield pulled into the parking lot at that moment, followed by Morelli's SUV.

"You wanna wait in the car?" Ranger suggested. I noticed how he didn't say I shouldn't worry, so he must have thought something similar. That didn't exactly calm me down.

I shook my head no. "I'm staying."

"Steph, you okay?" Morelli had reached me and was squatting in front of me, touching my shoulder.

I managed a weak smile. "Just afraid of what we find inside," I said.

"Maybe you want to wait in the car?" He tried to lift me up.

"NO!" Jeez! How was waiting in the car any better than knowing right away?

Joe had shrunk back a little at my sudden outburst. I reached for his hand. "Sorry. Rough day."

He shot Ranger a look and took my hand to help me up. "Let's give the guys some room. And you want to tell me again how you found this car?"

He led me away from McCarthy's car over to his SUV. A photographer started taking pictures while two men put on gloves and started unpacking their equipment. I watched them as I leaned back against Morelli's car.

Joe opened the passenger door and nudged me inside. And ambulance turned into the parking lot and I swallowed. "Can you have them check the trunk first?" I asked Morelli.

He nodded and turned to the nearest cop. "Pakula, start at the back."

Although it wasn't Joe's case, it was clear he was the detective in charge. Pakula didn't hesitate, he picked up his equipment coffer and lugged it over to the rear of the car.

Joe's car, only a few feet away from McCarthy's car, was a compromise I could live with. I wasn't looking over the CSI guys' shoulders and I wasn't far away and protected from it all. The jury was still out on whether or not I wanted to see whatever there was to be seen.

Ranger stood off to the side, to give the technicians room I assumed, talking on the phone. From his vantage point, he was able to see McCarthy's car, Morelli's car, me…it was the equivalent of the back-to-the-wall seat he always got at restaurants. Joe had joined Pakula at the unopened trunk and they were talking, but I couldn't make out what was said.

I was sitting on the edge of the seat sideways, my legs dangling out almost touching the running board, ready to jump. I wasn't sure if I'd jump towards the open trunk or away from it, but I was sure there was going to be jumping.

Now everything sort of happened in slow motion. All noise faded to the background, all I could hear clearly was my blood rushing, every other sound was muffled. And I had tunnel vision, the only thing focused was the trunk, everything else was fuzzy.

Before they could open it, they had to dust the metal for prints. I grunted in frustration.

"You sure you want to see this?" Ranger's voice made me jump out of my skin, I hadn't even see him approach.

"I have to," I almost croaked.

Ranger took my hand and squeezed it, he understood. I tore my gaze away from the car for a split second to look at him. Although I still felt I had every right to be angry with him for withholding information from me, a lot of it melted away in that instance. I realized I may not always agree, but Ranger always had my best interest at heart. And he would never force me to do anything I didn't want to do, even if it was as small as waiting in his car, away from the crime scene. I squeezed his hand back and held on to it; I needed him close at that moment.

It seemed like hours until they finally got a universal key to open the trunk, but probably it was only a couple minutes. I realized I'd been holding my breath when my lungs started hurting, and the shooting pain in my wrist told me I'd been squeezing Ranger's hand with all my strength. He didn't seem to mind.

The cover popped open and the two technicians bent down a little. The first CSI guy gasped and then yelled, "Get the EMTs!!", while the second guy just stared at the trunk with wide eyes.

I was out of Joe's car and on the macadam in a flash, sprinting past Ranger and Morelli. I _had_ to see. An EMT meant someone was alive in the trunk!

I had no idea what to expect, horrible images flashed through my mind in the second it took me to reach the car. I grabbed the fender and pulled myself in the last few inches.

For a second, my eyes didn't communicate what they were seeing, or my brain wasn't done playing its own horror movie. I had to shake my head violently to clear it. And then I saw what was really there and a strangled cry that was part scream, part sob escaped me.

Strong arms embraced me from behind and took me back a step to give the EMTs access.

It was Dad! Bound and gagged, but staring up at me with very much alive eyes and struggling against his restraints. He was alive!!

I tried to free myself and rush back to his side, but the arms around me tightened. "Give them room, Cupcake, just a minute."

"Let me go," I pressed out, "I have to…"

"They're trying to help him," Morelli said, loosening his grip on me. I knew he was right, I would be in the way right that second, but I needed to see my dad, needed to touch him to make sure it wasn't just an illusion.

"It's Dad!" I said, feeling the tears well up in my eyes.

Joe dropped his chin on my shoulder and was rocking me slowly. "You found him," he said.

"I found him," I repeated and slumped against Joe, trying to convince myself that it was true.

We were standing about three feet away, too far to touch him, but close enough to see everything. I watched as the EMTs gently pulled him out of the trunk and placed him on a stretcher, and as soon as they ripped the duct tape off his mouth and Dad gasped in pain, Morelli let me go so I could be there for Dad.

I tried to assess the situation professionally, distance myself from the scene like Ranger had told me, but I only got as far as realizing that Dad wasn't bleeding, that he just had cuts and bruises, that he would live. I took his hand as soon as they'd cut off the tape around his wrists.

"Dad, it's Stephanie," I said, my voice small and wobbly.

"I know my little girl," Dad said and squeezed my hand. He tried a smile, but it must have hurt too much.

"Mr. Plum, do you know who did this to you?" Morelli asked over my shoulder. "I hate to bug you now, but the sooner we get on…"  
"Fucking Dunnaback," Dad spat out. "That's who!"

"John Dunnaback, your Army buddy?" Of course that was the only Dunnaback my dad would know, but I had to have Morelli hear it. He had to get his kojak light and arrest the son of a bitch. Now.

"We really have to go now, we can't treat him here," one of the EMT said and tried to move the stretcher towards the ambulance.

I didn't let go of Dad's hand. "I'm coming with," I said as if that wasn't obvious. No one tried to stop me.

I climbed into the back of the ambulance. It was really tight with the EMT and the stretcher, but I didn't give a shit.

"Are you okay?" I asked my dad. I had to hear him say it.

"Five by five," Dad said and frowned at the IV the EMT was trying to get into his vein.

"You need fluids," the man explained and Dad reluctantly held out his arm.

He looked like he'd graduated high school the year before and I prayed the driver would get us there fast.

"Right behind you," Morelli said and slammed the doors shut. The sirens came on and we took off.

I know it was conscious on the short ride to St. Francis, but I really don't remember it all that well. I was holding Dad's free hand, reassuring myself that he was real, it wasn't a dream, I'd found him, but that's all I remember.

The ambulance doors swung open, and a swarm of doctors and nurses were already awaiting us. This was not the standard welcome committee; someone had to have called ahead. My guess was Morelli.

My dad was rolled into St. Francis's ER and just as they had him settled in one of the treatment rooms, Mom burst through the doors. This time I was sure Morelli had called her.

"You have to let us work here," a nurse said, nudging Mom and me towards the exit. "I'll let you know as soon as you can see him."

Neither one of us wanted to leave him alone, but this time, I was the reasonable one and took her by the elbow. "Let's get some coffee and sit down so I can tell you what happened," I said and pulled her with me out of Dad's room.

An hour later, we had downed two cups of the horrible hospital coffee each and I'd told Mom all about my day. Morelli was sitting on my left, holding my hand. Ranger had made sure I was okay and had left.

"You found your father because of a background noise on a phone call?" Mom asked, a little incredulous. There was a look in her eyes that I'd only ever seen when she was talking about Val and her perfect life in California. I wouldn't go as far as calling it pride, but it may have been respect. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking on my part.

I nodded. "In a way. I had help though."

"In every way," Morelli said, leaning forward so he could face Mom directly. "Steph spent the last 24 hours looking. The only reason the cops were at the crime scene was Steph called them."

Just then, the doctor that had taken care of Dad pushed through the ER's double doors and looked around as if he was searching for someone. I stood up and his eyes met mine. "Miss Plum?"

I nodded. Mom got up to stand beside me. "This is my mother, Helen Plum."

"I'm Dr. Boucher," he said, shaking our hands. He had to be new, I'd never seen him at St Francis before. He looked older than I was, younger than my parents were, maybe 5'5" tall with short gunmetal grey hair and blue eyes. "Detective Morelli," he said, nodding at Joe.

"How is he," Mom wanted to know.

"He's fine," Dr. Boucher said. "Severely hydrated, a couple of contusions, concussion, but nothing serious. We'd like to keep him here overnight, but he should be able to go home tomorrow."

"Can I see him now?" Mom asked.

Dr. Boucher nodded. "Just try not to excite him, he's had enough stress the past couple days."

We thanked the doctor and he left to find other patients to inform. "Do you mind if I come in?" Joe asked my mom. "I really need to know what Frank knows."

"The people who did this to him need to suffer like he has," Mom said, pressing her lips together. "And the sooner they're caught, the sooner they can start suffering."

Morelli raised his eyebrows and shot me a look but didn't say anything. We followed my mom into Dad's room. They hugged and kissed and I stared at the floor. It must have been decades since I'd seen my parents hug and kiss, it was embarrassing. I could feel Joe shaking next to me, trying to suppress his laughter. Now that the immediate danger was over, I was amusing him again.

Dad looked tired, but okay. Mom sat down on the chair next to him. "You need to stay overnight," she said. "And Joe needs to ask you some questions."

When Dad nodded, Morelli took a step forward. "Do you remember what happened?"

Dad looked from him to Mom. "Don't worry about me," she said. "Nothing could be worse that what I've imagined the past couple days!"

"I didn't know what day is was until the doc told me," Dad said. "I remember Friday night at the lodge."  
"What time did you leave the lodge?" Joe asked.

"10:30ish, I think. But I didn't leave. My car wouldn't start. Was the first time that ever happened, but I didn't suspect anything until fucking Dunnaback showed up."

Morelli took his notebook and pen out of his pocket. "Sean Dunnaback?" he asked.

Dad took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. "My TO," he said. "Haven't seen him since I left the Army."  
"Was he alone?" Morelli asked. Since Morelli was in the service, he knew the lingo, Dad didn't have to dumb it down. It would have been nice for the rest of us to understand it though.

Morelli shot me a look. "Technical Officer," he said softly and I nodded my thanks.

Dad struggled for a moment to sit up straighter. Mom jumped up and fluffed up a couple pillows that she stuffed behind his back. It was good to see them together again, it was good to have Dad back in our lives.

"I thought he had Dickson with him," Dad continued. "But his car was parked on the street, I couldn't really see it." He paused and grunted. "Well, I should say he had Dickson with him. Except Dickson was already dead at the time." His expression grew cold, I wasn't sure I wanted to know what was going through his mind at that moment. Then he looked up. "Dickson was a good man."

After a moment, Dad continued to tell us that Dunnaback had asked for my dad's help after an 'accident'. Apparently, he'd told Dad Dunnaback had had a heart attack on their way to a night club and now he didn't know what to do with the corpse.

"I suggested calling an ambulance, but by that time I'd gotten out of my car and had walked over to where Dickson sat." He rubbed the back of his head. "I never saw it coming, whatever he hit me with knocked me out cold right away."

When he woke up, Dad had been tied up in the back of a moving car. "His wife died," Dad said. "And he snapped. That's the only explanation I could come up with. He went totally insane."

"Do you know where he is now?" Morelli asked.

"Home or in Rio. Check the airport. If he's not there, he went home."

I shook my head. "I went to his house. His father in law is there, but he hasn't seen him in three days."

"You went to his house?" Dad asked. "How did you find his house?"

"I went looking for you." I shrugged, in a 'it's-what-I-do' motion. "Ranger gave me a list of your Army buddies and I looked them up."

Dad looked from me to Mom and back again. "That was very smart. And very brave."

"Steph was the one who found you," Morelli said, draping his arm around my shoulder. "I hate to admit it, but she was way ahead of us at the department."

Not that I didn't enjoy the praise, but we had to get to the point before the doctor would kick us out. "What about the others, Dad? Do you know where the other men from the unit are?"

"He left me in McCarthy's car," Dad said. "McCarthy was still alive when I saw him." He shook his head slowly. "He wanted us to activate the unit again, fight crime or whatever. When I refused, he tied me up and shoved me in the trunk. I don't know if the others agreed."

Seven men. Dickson was dead for sure, Dad was alive. Dunnaback was the bad guy, so that left four men unaccounted for. "Who did you see, who else did Dunnaback pick up?" I asked Dad.

"I think Dickson was the first. Then Mc Carthy. I didn't see him because he was trussed up in the trunk when Dunnaback found me. He kept us in a garage for a day or so and came back with LaBella." Dad took a breath and seemed to think hard.

The door to Dad's room opened and Dr. Boucher stepped in. "I'm afraid that's all the time I can give you for now," he said. "Frank needs some rest. You can talk to him again in a few hours."

"I'm staying," my mom said and got up from her chair, pushing her chin forward, daring the doctor to object.

"We're leaving," Morelli said, his arm still around my shoulder.

I wanted to object, but I could see how tired Dad was. He was obviously exhausted. And we had enough to continue, we had cars to check at least. Everything else just had to wait until Dad was rested. And really, the fact that he was alive and well was the most important thing anyway. Right?

The cops would probably be able to handle the rest. I'd done the hard work, they only needed to find the missing cars. Okay, they'd have to be quick about it, but as far as I was concerned, my work was done, I had my dad back.

Tomorrow, he'd go home. And there would be pot roast and pineapple upside-down cake and my life would be back to normal. Whatever that meant.

Okay, who was I kidding? My life was never normal and if it were, it would bore me to hell. But my parents would be back where they belonged and I'd once again know where to go for normal if I needed a quick fix.

The End

* * *

A/N: So that's it then. All done and over, right? I would love to learn what you think of the story and whether or not it should have a sequel.


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